Overview
- Curiosity’s Atacama target, which it drilled on April 25, lifted out as a whole slab and stuck to the fixed sleeve around the spinning drill bit.
- Engineers first tried shaking the drill and then, on April 29, they repositioned the arm and vibrated again as cameras showed sand spilling from the rock.
- The team cleared the obstruction on May 1 by tilting the drill to a steeper angle while rotating, vibrating, and spinning the bit, and the rock broke apart when it hit the ground.
- NASA posted hazard‑ and navigation‑camera sequences that document the attempts and later shared a May 6 Mastcam mosaic showing the freed Atacama rock with the drill hole visible.
- NASA reports no lasting damage, the rover has resumed science in Gale Crater, and the team plans to examine the broken debris with Curiosity’s instruments.