NASA's Curiosity rover is planning to begin drilling at the "Windjana" sandstone, a site the machine scoped out last week.
According to a press release from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Curiosity brushed off the sandstone slab with its Dust Removal Tool. The drilling will be the third such mission the rover has undertaken.
"Over the weekend, Curiosity used its Dust Removal Tool (DRT) to brush the surface of Windjana, and also performed a pre-load test with the rover arm to see if the rock would be a suitable target for drilling," Melissa Rice, Curiosity mission team member, told CBS News. "Both of these activities were successful, and nothing so far has ruled out Windjana as our next drill target."
NASA hopes to analyze the cement that holds the sandstone together. The results will help scientists understand how other Gale Crater formations took shape. NASA is most interested in Mount Sharp, the mountain at the center of the Gale Crater, Curiosity's landing spot.
"In the brushed spot we can see that the rock is fine-grained, its true color is much grayer than the surface dust, and some portions of the rock are harder than others, creating the interesting bumpy textures," Rice said. "All of these traits reinforce our interest in drilling here in order understand the chemistry of the fluids that bound these grains together to form the rock."
NASA expects to learn about Mars' environmental history from samples taken at Mount Sharp, Curiosity's ultimate science goal.
"In the brushed spot, we can see that the rock is fine-grained, its true color is much grayer than the surface dust, and some portions of the rock are harder than others, creating the interesting bumpy textures," Rice said in the release. "All of these traits reinforce our interest in drilling here in order understand the chemistry of the fluids that bound these grains together to form the rock."
