Curiosity Frees 28.6-lb Rock from Drill Arm

NASA's Curiosity rover has successfully dislodged a 28.6-pound rock named Atacama from its robotic drill arm after nearly a week of efforts, allowing the mission to resume sample collection on Mars. The incident occurred on April 25 while the rover was exploring the slopes of Mount Sharp in Gale Crater, near the planet's equator.

Curiosity's team had selected Atacama, a 1.5-foot-wide and 6-inch-thick rock resembling those from Earth's Chilean Atacama Desert, for drilling to obtain material for onboard chemical analysis. The rover's rotary-percussive drill penetrated the rock successfully, but upon retraction, the entire stone lifted from the ground, suspended by the fixed sleeve surrounding the drill bit. "Drilling has fractured or separated the upper layers of rocks in the past, but a rock has never remained attached to the drill sleeve," NASA stated.

Engineers on Earth faced a novel challenge, as the attachment threatened the drill's functionality and potentially the arm itself. Initial attempts on April 25 to vibrate the drill failed to free the rock. On April 29, the team reoriented the arm and vibrated again, dislodging only small sand-like fragments. Success came on May 1,...