CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, dispatched to learn if the planet ever had ingredients for life, drilled its first bit of powder from inside a potentially water-formed ancient rock, scientists said on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
The robotic geology station, which landed inside a giant impact basin on August 6 for a two-year mission, transferred about a tablespoon of rock powder from its drill into a scoop, pictures relayed by the rover Wednesday showed. <\/p>\n
\"We're all very happy to get this confirmation and relieved that the drilling was a complete success,\" Curiosity engineer Scott McCloskey of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, told reporters on a conference call. <\/p>\n
On February 8, the rover used its powerful drill, the first instrument of its type to be sent to Mars, to bore inside a flat, veined piece of bedrock, which appears to contain minerals formed by flowing water. <\/p>\n
The sample, retrieved from at least 2 inches beneath the surface of the rock, will be sieved and portions of it processed inside two onboard science instruments. <\/p>\n
The gray powder is strikingly different than the ubiquitous red dust that covers the planet's surface, a result of oxidation from solar ultraviolet radiation. <\/p>\n
\"Having a rock-drilling capability on a rover is a significant advancement,\" said Louise Jandura, chief engineer for Curiosity's sample system. <\/p>\n
\"It allows us to go beyond the surface layer of the rock, unlocking a kind of time capsule of evidence about the state of Mars going back 3 or 4 billion years,\" Jandura told reporters. <\/p>\n
The drill is the last of Curiosity's 10 science instruments to be tested since the rover landed inside Gale Crater, located near the planet's equator. <\/p>\n
The site was selected because of a three-mile (5-km) high mound of what appears to be layered sediments rising from the crater's floor. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Read the original:<\/p>\n
NASA Mars rover ready to eat, analyze rock powder<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, dispatched to learn if the planet ever had ingredients for life, drilled its first bit of powder from inside a potentially water-formed ancient rock, scientists said on Wednesday. The robotic geology station, which landed inside a giant impact basin on August 6 for a two-year mission, transferred about a tablespoon of rock powder from its drill into a scoop, pictures relayed by the rover Wednesday showed. \"We're all very happy to get this confirmation and relieved that the drilling was a complete success,\" Curiosity engineer Scott McCloskey of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, told reporters on a conference call Continue reading