NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has successfully drilled its 44th hole on the Martian surface, a significant milestone in the investigation of the "boxwork unit," a region of resistant ridges surrounding pits or "hollows" of less-resistant rock.
The drilling took place over the weekend within the "Monte Grande" hollow at the "Valle de la Luna" target. The rover planning this week focused on ensuring that the granular drill tailings from Valle de la Luna were transferred to the SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) and CheMin (X-ray diffraction) instruments, and analyzing the results.
These internal studies of the Valle de la Luna samples will provide critical information for determining how the boxwork features formed. However, subtle differences between the rocks making up the ridges and those making up the hollows have yet to be explained by chemistry from the APXS and ChemCam instruments and reflectance spectra from ChemCam.
While conducting internal studies, remote sensing data were collected by Mastcam of a series of targets, as well as atmospheric remote sensing. The rover is also analyzing images collected during a photometry study, which examines changes in the apparent reflected brightness of rocks and soils based on the illumination geometry.
The team plans to continue analyzing the drilled sample with more SAM experiments and analyze the tailings. They are also searching for a suitable drilling location on a ridge as the next drilling site to compare with the results from the Monte Grande hollow.
To learn more about Curiosity's science instruments, visit the Science Instruments page.
The drilling took place over the weekend within the "Monte Grande" hollow at the "Valle de la Luna" target. The rover planning this week focused on ensuring that the granular drill tailings from Valle de la Luna were transferred to the SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) and CheMin (X-ray diffraction) instruments, and analyzing the results.
These internal studies of the Valle de la Luna samples will provide critical information for determining how the boxwork features formed. However, subtle differences between the rocks making up the ridges and those making up the hollows have yet to be explained by chemistry from the APXS and ChemCam instruments and reflectance spectra from ChemCam.
While conducting internal studies, remote sensing data were collected by Mastcam of a series of targets, as well as atmospheric remote sensing. The rover is also analyzing images collected during a photometry study, which examines changes in the apparent reflected brightness of rocks and soils based on the illumination geometry.
The team plans to continue analyzing the drilled sample with more SAM experiments and analyze the tailings. They are also searching for a suitable drilling location on a ridge as the next drilling site to compare with the results from the Monte Grande hollow.
To learn more about Curiosity's science instruments, visit the Science Instruments page.
. They're not just drilling holes for the sake of it; they're actually gathering clues to understand the history of Mars. And sometimes, you gotta take a step back and look at all these pieces from different angles before you can see how they fit together. It's like life itself - we gotta keep drilling away (literally!) until we uncover what's beneath the surface 
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NASA's getting so close to figuring out what's up with mars lol these boxwork units gotta be like super interesting to study. I'm hyped for the next drilling location they're gonna try out on a ridge it'll be dope to see the comparison with the hollows. and omg the granular drill tailings from Valle de la Luna are giving me life 
can't wait for the results of those SAM experiments.
. But finally getting around to reading it now 
. So Mars rover Curiosity is literally drilling into Mars and it's SO COOL!!! They've already done like, 44 holes?! That's crazy! And the fact that they're trying to figure out how those boxwork features formed on Mars is just mind-blowing 
. I mean, we're basically learning secrets about another planet from a machine on Mars! It's wild how scientists are still finding new things with each drilling site. Can't wait for them to share more updates and maybe even find something life-changing 
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. And can we talk about the names for this stuff? "Boxwork unit" and "hollows"? Sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie 
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. Mars rover Curiosity is like a super cool detective trying to figure out the secrets of the Red Planet! I mean, drilling 44 holes? That's crazy 
. Anyway, I'm stoked NASA is doing this research – it's like we're one step closer to finding life elsewhere in the universe! Fingers crossed 
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. They're using lots of cool tech to study it too, like X-ray diffraction instruments that can analyze the chemical makeup of the rocks. It's all really interesting... but also kinda mind-blowing 
. Those "boxwork unit" things are super mysterious and scientists need to crack the code 
. The fact that they're studying the rocks' chemistry & reflectance spectra is giving me all sorts of brainy feels 
. Can't wait to see what they discover next! Maybe it'll reveal some secrets about Mars' past 
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! The more they analyze them, the more they'll learn about Mars' history and geology. It's mind-blowing stuff 
, I mean who needs a beach vacation when you can explore ancient rocks on another planet? This "boxwork unit" thing sounds like some sci-fi movie plot 
, like they're trying to figure out how Mars was formed and all that jazz. And the fact that they've only just started drilling their 44th hole is mind-blowing – think of all those hours of digging into Martian soil 
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. I hope NASA keeps us updated on their progress, this is exactly why we need space exploration 
, it's wild to think that all that Martian rock was once molten lava or something. I wonder if they'll ever find evidence of past life on Mars... 