The Curiosity rover finally found a rock too hard to crack, but he still tried – BGR

The NASA Curiosity robot did a fantastic job on Mars, and even though it had to fundamentally reinvent the way it uses its primary sampling tool, it managed to get back to work from anyway. Unfortunately for the rover manipulators, one of the first new targets that they chose to break was able to defeat the powerful tool.

In a new update of the Curiosity rover's mission log, scientists reveal that the rock they were trying to steal a sample is too difficult to break through. The Big Rock, nicknamed Voyageurs, barely suffered a scratch from the Curiosity drill tool, and it did not reach nearly deep enough to get a useful sample.

Scientists Explain Their Difficulties:

After Our Drilling Attempt The Voyageurs target has not reached sufficient depth due to the rock's impressive hardness, the team is starting to finish its activities at this location before going back a bit further to find a more suitable drilling target (ie All evidence suggests that this rocky target is one of the most difficult yet observed in the crater of Gale, a property that may be indicative of this whole section of the ridge of Vera Rubin

Well, it's a disappointment, but despite not being able to sample for the tests, the fact That the rock is so hard reveals enticing information.The hardness of the rock is determined by a number of different factors, and the fact that this particular rock is so incredibly hard suggests that it's all about. 39; a very interesting natural process at work in this particular region of the red planet

. in the hardness of the rock could indicate several different physical and chemical properties about a rock. It is important for us to better characterize and understand why this unit of rock is so much harder than the underlying rocks in Murray's formation. Could this increased hardness be related to changes in water chemistry as sedimentary rocks settle? Or, could this increased hardness be due to subsequent cementation, since iron-rich water has been injected into previously deposited sedimentary rocks?

All of these questions are not enough for NASA. Determining what mechanisms have contributed to the formation of any of the rocks on the surface of Mars is a continuous process, but for now, Curiosity will go elsewhere in the hope of finding a little more flexibility to sink his borehole.