Curiosity Rover Collects First Martian Bedrock Sample

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Curiosity Rover Collects First Martian Bedrock Sample

Posted by timothy on Saturday February 9, 2013 @07:26AM from the cosmetics-use-in-3-2-1 dept.

littlesparkvt writes "NASA's Curiosity rover has, for the first time, used a drill carried at the end of its robotic arm to bore into a flat, veiny rock on Mars and collect a sample from its interior. This is the first time any robot has drilled into a rock to collect a sample on Mars."

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Was there an article? by oodaloop · 2013-02-09 07:28 · Score: 5, Informative

I've been clicking on TFS, but no webpage comes up. Is there a link somewhere?

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Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
1. Re:Was there an article? by oodaloop · 2013-02-09 07:29 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Oh, and frist smaple!
  
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  Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
2. Re:Was there an article? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-09 07:56 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I got turned on just reading the summary, who needs an article.
  
  ...flat, veiny rock... ...a sample from its interior.
  You're a very disturbed person, please seek professional help ASAP.
  Wait ! Not THAT kind of professional! :)
Article by skelly33 · 2013-02-09 07:36 · Score: 5, Informative

Link
Not the first occurrence of drilling in Bedrock by GodfatherofSoul · 2013-02-09 08:10 · Score: 4, Funny

I find that hard to believe, seeing as both the Flintstones and Rubbles have young children with young, attractive wives.

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I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Re:Erosion by sensei+moreh · 2013-02-09 08:22 · Score: 4, Informative

Erosion exposes a new surface to weathering, and a weathered surface can have a chemical composition significantly different than the unweathered interior.

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Geology - it's not rocket science; it's rock science
Re:Erosion by Kaldaien · 2013-02-09 09:18 · Score: 4, Interesting

Do not forget that volcanism and liquid water were also once a factor in weathering. There is no life, that we know of, to speed up erosion - so it is possible that drilling only a few cm will reveal geologic history on different timescale than the equivalent depth on Earth.
Granted the top layer, which is all we have studied up until now will be nothing exciting (likely layers of dust deposited over millennia), but unexposed layers have a lot of historic potential. The layers may even be old enough to portray Mars during a more interesting period, perhaps when it still had a respectable magnetic field and atmosphere.