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Drilling into Mars

February 20, 2013

This animation of NASA's Curiosity rover shows the complicated suite of operations involved in conducting the rover's first rock sample drilling on Mars and transferring the sample to the rover's scoop for inspection. The drilling and sample transfer took place on Feb. 8 and 20, 2013, or sols 182 and 193, Curiosity's 182nd and 193rd Martian days of operations.

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This image shows where NASA's Curiosity rover aimed two different instruments to study a pyramid-shaped rock known as "Jake Matijevic."
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This image shows where NASA's Curiosity rover aimed two different instruments to study a pyramid-shaped rock known as "Jake Matijevic."
Target: Jake Matijevic Rock (Annotated)
This close-up view of "Tintina" was taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on Sol 160 (Jan. 17, 2013) and shows interesting linear textures in the bright white material on the rock.
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This close-up view of "Tintina" was taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on Sol 160 (Jan. 17, 2013) and shows interesting linear textures in the bright white material on the rock.
Close-up View of Broken Mars Rock 'Tintina'
This composite image, with magnified insets, depicts the first laser test by the Chemistry and Camera, or ChemCam,
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This composite image, with magnified insets, depicts the first laser test by the Chemistry and Camera, or ChemCam,
First Laser-Zapped Rock on Mars
This engineering drawing shows the location of the arm on NASA's Curiosity rover, in addition to the arm's turret, which holds two instruments and three tools.
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This engineering drawing shows the location of the arm on NASA's Curiosity rover, in addition to the arm's turret, which holds two instruments and three tools.
Curiosity's Robotic Arm
This engineering animation depicts the moves that NASA's rover Curiosity made on Sept. 22, 2012, when the rover touched a Martian rock with its robotic arm for the first time. Curiosity examined th...
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First Rock Contact by Curiosity's Arm
First Rock Contact by Curiosity's Arm
This image shows the heatshield inside a large 'clean room'
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This image shows the heatshield inside a large 'clean room'
One Hot, Giant "Clamshell"
This graphic shows key features of the Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS), one of the instruments within the laboratory suite named Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) aboard NASA's Curiosity Mars rover.
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This graphic shows the Tunable Laser Spectrometer, one of the tools within the Sample Analysis at Mars laboratory on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. By measuring absorption of light at specific wavelengths, it measures concentrations of methane, carbon dioxide and water vapor in Mars' atmosphere.
Tunable Laser Spectrometer on NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover
The Entry, Descent and Landing team gathers to celebrate prior to a post-landing press briefing.
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The Entry, Descent and Landing team gathers to celebrate prior to a post-landing press briefing.
Engineers Celebrate Curiosity's Landing
Download a PDF of the Mars as Art Booklet.
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Mars as Art
Mars as Art (2013)
This image shows the topography, with shading added, around the area where NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT).
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This image shows the topography, with shading added, around the area where NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT).
Where Water Flowed Downslope
A sweeping panorama combining 33 telephoto images into one Martian vista presents details of several types of terrain visible on Mount Sharp from a location along the route of NASA's Curiosity Mars...
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A sweeping panorama combining 33 telephoto images into one Martian vista presents details of several types of terrain visible on Mount Sharp from a location along the route of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. The component images were taken by the rover's Mast Camera on April 10, 2015.
Diverse Terrain Types on Mount Sharp, Mars (Unlabeled)
Self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover uses thumbnail versions of MAHLI component images to give an idea of what a sharper version will look like when the full-frame images are assembled.
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Self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover uses thumbnail versions of MAHLI component images to give an idea of what a sharper version will look like when the full-frame images are assembled.
Preliminary Self-Portrait of Curiosity by Rover's Arm Camera
Two miniature satellites will be hitching a ride to the Red Planet to get a front row seat for InSight 's landing on Mars.
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MarCO: First Interplanetary CubeSat Mission
MarCO: First Interplanetary CubeSat Mission
The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Curiosity rover is carried at an angle when the rover's arm is stowed for driving.
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The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Curiosity rover is carried at an angle when the rover's arm is stowed for driving.
View From Curiosity's Arm-Mounted Camera After a Long Drive
The Mars Descent Imager for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory took this image in October 2008.
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The Mars Descent Imager for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory took this image in October 2008.
Descent Camera Portrait of Principal Investigator
This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from where it landed in 2012 to its location in early March 2016, approaching 'Naukluft Plateau.' As the rover continues up Mount Shar...
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This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from where it landed in 2012 to its location in early March 2016, approaching 'Naukluft Plateau.' As the rover continues up Mount Sharp, its science team has been refreshed by a second round of NASA participating-scientist selections.
New Waypoint, Science Team Newcomers for Curiosity
As of June 2012, the target landing area for Curiosity, the rover of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, is the ellipse marked on this image. The ellipse is about 12 miles long and 4 miles wide...
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As of June 2012, the target landing area for Curiosity, the rover of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, is the ellipse marked on this image. The ellipse is about 12 miles long and 4 miles wide (20 kilometers by 7 kilometers).
Revised Landing Target for Mars Rover Curiosity
The Atlas V first stage to support the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is positioned inside the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
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The Atlas V first stage to support the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is positioned inside the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
The Rocket Arrives
An animated set of three images from NASA's Curiosity rover shows the rover's drill in action on Feb. 8, 2013, or Sol 182, Curiosity's 182nd Martian day of operations.
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An animated set of three images from NASA's Curiosity rover shows the rover's drill in action on Feb. 8, 2013, or Sol 182, Curiosity's 182nd Martian day of operations.
Ready, Set, Drill
The Curiosity Cam live video feed allows the public to watch technicians assemble and test NASA's next Mars rover in a clean room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
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The Curiosity Cam live video feed allows the public to watch technicians assemble and test NASA's next Mars rover in a clean room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Curiosity Cam Goes Live
This artist's concept shows thrusters firing during the entry, descent and landing phase for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission to Mars.
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This artist's concept shows thrusters firing during the entry, descent and landing phase for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission to Mars.
Mars Science Laboratory Guided Entry at Mars, Artist's Concept
The cruise stage of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft is being prepared for final stacking of the spacecraft in this photograph from inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA ...
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The cruise stage of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft is being prepared for final stacking of the spacecraft in this photograph from inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Mars Science Laboratory Cruise Stage
Scarecrow, a mobility-testing model for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, easily traverses large rocks in the Mars Yard testing area at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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Scarecrow, a mobility-testing model for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, easily traverses large rocks in the Mars Yard testing area at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
"Scarecrow" Climbs Rocks
Designed to be about the size of a laptop computer inside a carrying case, the Chemistry and Mineralogy Instrument will identify and measure the abundances of minerals on Mars. A rotating wheel in ...
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This sketch shows a transparent, rectangular chamber with a spoked wheel inside it. Around the outer edge of the wheel are slots for holding chemical samples.
Chemistry & Mineralogy X-Ray Diffraction Instrument
A section of the Mars Science Laboratory's Gale Crater landing site is shown, with a representative path from the landing location toward the layered mound to the south.
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A section of the Mars Science Laboratory's Gale Crater landing site is shown, with a representative path from the landing location toward the layered mound to the south.
Studying a Wider Swath

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