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Image taken by the Curiosity rover of the 18th hole drilled on Mars.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
After having encountered some technical issues that put NASA's Curiosity robot out of office on March this year, the robotic explorer seems to have returned to good health, after going on a new site and having drilled a sampling hole, according to NASA statements.
This hole is his 18th successful drill mission, according to NASA. He was aiming at a type of rock that the mission geologists had been watching for over a month, but had failed to drill on a previous site. The exercise was out of service between late 2016 and this May, engineers having solved a problem with the instrument.
A story of Cinderella. Out of nowhere. A rover on Mars, about to become the champion of the Masters. I just finished the 18th hole of the red planet!
More information on the Highfield drilling target: https://t.co/Hj7GJ5LVGe pic.twitter.com/o0z4kwWLKy
– Rover Curiosity (@MarsCuriosity) November 8, 2018
But the rover was luckier on the new site, nicknamed Highfield. Curiosity is currently analyzing the powder it has produced, which should tell scientists more about the rock on the site. The rover will also observe the evolution of the small pile over time, which essentially creates meteorological observations following the movements of the wind, according to NASA.
This is a particularly interesting time for Mars weather observations, as its robot mate, Opportunity, remains silent on the other side of the planet after a global dust storm earlier this year. Scientists are hoping that a seasonal weather phenomenon known as devil dust will help remove any dust from Opportunity's solar panels and help it resume normal operations.
To reach the new science site, Curiosity had to travel about 60 meters, according to NASA. The trip comes a month after the rover engineers were forced to tip Curiosity off his brain after a computer problem on Sept. 15.
Engineers always try to figure out what's wrong with the computer on which the mobile phone was supporting before the switch was changed. Although the mobile does not need both computers to work at the same time, they want to fix the problem and go back because the offline computer has more memory.
Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her. @meghanbartels. follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook. Original article on Space.com.
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