Overview
- The rover’s drill was cleared Friday after a tilt‑rotate‑vibrate‑spin sequence ended a weeklong snag that began during a routine sampling.
- The issue started April 25 when an entire 13‑kilogram rock nicknamed Atacama lifted with the fixed sleeve around the drill bit, a first in the mission’s history.
- Engineers first tried vibrating the drill, then reoriented the arm and tried again April 29, before the May 1 maneuver shook the rock loose and it fractured on the ground.
- Curiosity’s hazard and navigation cameras recorded the attempts, and NASA released GIFs showing the arm motions and the rock finally dropping away.
- NASA has reported no lasting damage, and the team plans to study the broken debris with the rover’s CheMin instrument while science operations in Gale Crater continue; the drill’s past issues include 2015 electrical shorts and a 2016 feed stall that led to a 2018 workaround.