NASA ‘rescued’ the Mars robot from a distance of 334 million km

To handle it, NASA experts created a command for Curiosity Robot, waved the arm attached to the drill, and operated the drill several times, finally removing the rock. The entire process is recorded by hazard avoidance cameras in front of the chassis and navigation cameras on the robot’s mast.

Previously, on April 25, Curiosity drilled to sample a rock called Atacama, estimated to have a bottom diameter of about 46 cm, a thickness of 15 cm and a weight of 13 kg. When the robot retracts its arm, the entire rock is lifted off the ground, hanging over the drill bit. NASA said that drilling operations have cracked or separated the upper layers of rock, but this is the first time rock has stuck to the drill bit like that.

Theo IFL ScienceMars is about 334 million km from Earth. From this distance, the team of experts tried to control Curiosity to vibrate the drill to make Atacama fall but failed. On April 29, they tried reorienting the robot arm and vibrating the drill again. Images from the camera show the sand falling away while the rock remains stuck.

Finally, on May 1, the team of experts tried again, tilting the drill more, combined with rotation and vibration. They planned to perform this series of operations several times, but the rock fell on the first try and broke when it hit the ground.

Theo SpaceCuriosity, as large as a car, landed in Gale Crater on Mars in August 2012 with the mission of determining whether the area once supported microbial life. The robot then discovered that, in ancient times, Gale contained a system of rivers and lakes potentially suitable for life. The robot then continued to study the rock layers as it moved, looking for clues about the transition of ancient Mars from a relatively warm and humid planet to the cold, barren place it is today.

Last August, when reaching the 13th year of operation on the red planet, the robot traveled a total of 35 km, many of which were rough and rocky roads. This is a remarkable achievement because initially, the mission was only expected to last about two years.

Science Alert said that during its operation, the robot overcame many problems such as the impact drilling mechanism experiencing a short circuit, the brakes being hindered due to debris, the drill jamming, and punctured wheels. Using Scarecrow, Curiosity’s counterpart on Earth, experts discovered that the robot could continue running on Mars “indefinitely” with the remaining wheels if damaged edges could be removed.