TL;DR
Get school and study supplies delivered free — and shop member deals
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Access to Prime Big Deal Days deals on October 6–7
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
NASA’s Curiosity rover team selected a rock target for a planned drill campaign after the rover encountered blocks covered or possibly filled with small disc-shaped features. The campaign, described in a Sept. 30 NASA blog post covering sols 5016–5021, is intended to collect material for the CheMin instrument to identify minerals; drilling had not yet been reported as completed.
NASA’s Curiosity rover team selected a rock target for a planned drilling campaign in a new area of Mars, after the rover encountered blocks bearing small, disc-shaped features. The Sept. 30 mission update says the target is above the erosional supersurface and could provide the material needed for Curiosity’s CheMin instrument to identify minerals, but the post does not report that drilling has taken place.
The rover’s geology team said the new rocks differed from the finely layered bedrock seen in recent work in the sulfate unit. The blocks were instead covered with, and possibly filled by, a jumble of small discs. Curiosity took images of two areas named Yungay and Chiu Chiu, while its instruments gathered or were scheduled to gather information about the rocks’ appearance and composition.
The team outlined several possible explanations for the shapes. They could reflect the growth pattern of a particular crystalline mineral, or they could be fragments of a harder rock layer that broke apart and accumulated in the area. The blog describes these as possibilities, not conclusions. Mastcam and the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) were used for close visual detail, alongside chemical measurements planned with the rover’s LIBS and APXS instruments.
Curiosity then drove to a promising drill workspace beyond the disc-featured blocks. The Wednesday drive brought the rover near the area, and Friday’s plan included additional observations using instruments on its arm, ChemCam’s laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), and Mastcam. The team chose a specific drilling target and planned a short drive to place it within reach of the arm for contact science and a preload test, followed by drilling if the steps went well.
A Drill Could Identify the Minerals
Images and remote chemical measurements can help the team describe the rocks, but the blog says identifying minerals requires data from CheMin, Curiosity’s X-ray diffraction instrument. That means collecting and processing a drilled rock sample. If the planned campaign succeeds, it will give the team a closer mineralogical look at material from an area where the rover has not drilled before.
The target also marks a location change for the mission: the post calls this Curiosity’s first drill above the erosional supersurface. The team has driven more than a kilometer since its previous drill site, Campo Marte. A successful sample could help scientists compare these rocks with earlier units and investigate how their minerals and textures formed. The blog does not yet give results from a sample, so the significance of the unusual discs remains unresolved.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
From Rock Images to a Sample
The report, written by NASA Goddard planetary scientist Lucy Lim, covers Curiosity’s sols 5016–5021 and gives an Earth planning date of Sept. 18, 2026. It was published on NASA Science on Sept. 30. The team noted that somewhat similar disc-like features had appeared earlier in the mission near Pahrump Hills, in the Murray mudstones, and that comparable forms also occur in some Earth rocks, including settings where minerals precipitate from evaporating fluids.
That comparison provides a possible geological context, not proof that the Martian features formed the same way. The team also planned long-distance imaging of buttes on either side of Valle Grande. Those mosaics are intended to help map sedimentary structures in upcoming units and examine how the rocks formed and eroded, as well as how Valle Grande itself developed. The immediate focus, however, is getting a chosen rock within reach for contact measurements and possible drilling.
“The team also selected a specific drill target and planned a very short drive to bring it in range of the arm — first for contact science and then, if all goes well, for the preload test and drill.”
— Lucy Lim, describing the planned drill work
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
The Discs’ Origin Is Unresolved
The blog does not establish what produced the disc-shaped features or whether they are related to mineral growth, broken rock fragments, or another process. It reports that the team planned imaging and compositional measurements, but offers no final interpretation of those observations. Nor does it report a completed drill, a sample analysis, or a CheMin mineral identification.
The next steps were conditional. Curiosity had to position the selected target within reach of its arm, carry out contact science and pass a preload test before drilling could proceed. The update does not say whether those operations succeeded, when a sample might be analyzed, or what minerals it could contain.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Contact Tests Before Drilling
The next planned activity was Drill Sol 1, which Lim described as “Triage Contact Science.” The team intended to use the arm-mounted instruments to examine the chosen target, then assess whether it was ready for the preload test and drilling. Lim said she would return to planning on Monday as Geology and Mineralogy Science Theme Lead for that work.
Any report of drilling and sample analysis would establish whether Curiosity obtained material for CheMin and what mineral information it reveals. Until the mission team publishes those results, the rock’s composition and the cause of the disc-like texture remain open questions.
spectroscopy kit for mineral analysis
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Key Questions
What did Curiosity find?
The rover encountered blocks covered with, and possibly filled by, small disc-shaped features, unlike the finely layered bedrock seen in its recent sulfate-unit workspaces.
What might have formed the disc-shaped features?
The team suggested they could reflect the growth habit of a crystalline mineral or be fragments of a harder rock layer that broke up and collected there. The NASA post does not confirm either explanation.
Why does the rover need to drill?
According to the mission update, identifying minerals requires data from CheMin, Curiosity’s X-ray diffraction instrument, and obtaining that data requires a drilled sample.
Has Curiosity drilled the selected target?
The Sept. 30 post reports a selected target and planned contact tests, a preload test, and drilling if conditions allowed. It does not say that drilling was completed.
Why is this drill location notable?
The team described it as Curiosity’s first drill site above the erosional supersurface and said the rover had driven more than a kilometer since its previous drill location at Campo Marte.
Source: primary
Halloween Picks
halloween
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
