New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

Curiosity rover collects fourth scoop of Martian soil

Date:
October 22, 2012
Source:
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Summary:
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shook a scoopful of dusty sand inside its sample-handling mechanism on Sol 75 (Oct. 21, 2012) as the third scrubbing of interior surfaces of the mechanism. The rover team is instructing the rover to deliver a sieved sample from this scoopful -- the mission's fourth -- onto Curiosity's observation tray on Oct. 22 and plans to analyze another sample from the same scoopful with the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument this week.
Share:
FULL STORY

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shook a scoopful of dusty sand inside its sample-handling mechanism on Sol 75 (Oct. 21, 2012) as the third scrubbing of interior surfaces of the mechanism.

The rover team is instructing the rover to deliver a sieved sample from this scoopful -- the mission's fourth -- onto Curiosity's observation tray on Oct. 22 and plans to analyze another sample from the same scoopful with the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument this week.

Curiosity collected this fourth scoop of soil on Sol 74 (Oct. 20). A later scoop will become the first delivered to the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument. While continuing with scooping activities at the "Rocknest" site, the rover also has been examining surroundings with the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) and Mast Camera (Mastcam) instruments, and monitoring environmental conditions with the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD), Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) and Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instruments of its science payload.

Sol 75, in Mars local mean solar time at Gale Crater, ended at 8:58 a.m. Oct. 22, PDT (11:58 a.m., EDT).


Story Source:

Materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Curiosity rover collects fourth scoop of Martian soil." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 October 2012. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121022191228.htm>.
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (2012, October 22). Curiosity rover collects fourth scoop of Martian soil. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121022191228.htm
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Curiosity rover collects fourth scoop of Martian soil." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121022191228.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES