NASA Rover Collects First Sample from Martian Mountain

Curiosity’s view from the base of Mount Sharp. Photo courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

by Scott Kesselman



NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has collected a powdered rock sample, its first, since recently arriving at the layered mountain named Mount Sharp.



“This first look at rocks we believe to underlie Mount Sharp is exciting because it will begin to form a picture of the environment at the time the mountain formed, and what led to its growth,” says Curiosity Deputy Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada of Jet Propulsion Laboratory.



After finding a suitable drilling site at Confidence Hills in the mountain’s base layer through a mini-drill testing procedure, Curiosity has collected its softest sample to date and will next deliver the sample to a scoop on its arm for further analysis. The scoop will observe the powder’s texture to see if it is safe for additional sieving, portioning and delivery into Curiosity’s internal laboratory instruments for detailed chemical and mineral analysis.



The rover landed on Mars in 2012 and spent its first year studying an area called Yellowknife Bay, determined to be a 3 billion year old lakebed with a potentially suitable ancient environment for microbes.



From the bay to Mount Sharp, Curiosity drove more than five miles in 15 months with a few scientific pit stops along the way.



“We’re putting the brakes on to study this amazing mountain,” says Jennifer Trosper, Curiosity Deputy Project Manager from JPL. “Curiosity flew hundreds of millions of miles to do this.”



Between the mini-drill test and sample collection, the rover was used to study geometrically distinctive rock features on the nearby rock surface. The features found at the Murray formation, the mountain’s base layer, occur in discrete clusters and as branching networks. 



Scientists hope to gain information about possible composition of fluids, possible habitable environments and major environmental changes at this location from long ago, according to a NASA press release.