Mars has intense radiation, furious dust storms, and temperatures that plunge as low as -200 degrees Fahrenheit (-129 degrees Celsius) — and NASA's Mars rovers usually handle them all with aplomb. But Curiosity had a little hiccup last month. As to what slowed the rover down, though? Well, a rock that just wouldn't let go.
On April 25, the Curiosity rover drilled into a Mars rock nicknamed "Atacama" and accidentally yanked the entire thing out of the ground. Instead of breaking apart cleanly during sampling, the rock remained stubbornly attached to the rover's drill sleeve as Curiosity lifted its robotic arm away from the surface.
Atacama wasn't exactly pebble-size, either. NASA estimates the rock measured about 1.5 feet (0.5 meters) wide at its base, about 6 inches (15 centimeters) thick, and weighed roughly 28.6 pounds (13 kilograms).
Now, NASA engineers have dealt with their fair share of challenges during deep-space missions. But a whole rock riding out of the ground and refusing to let go? That's a first in Curiosity's more than 13 years on the Red Planet.
The team's first move to free the rover was vibrating the drill to shake the rock loose. And that did exactly squat. Four days later, the operators reoriented the arm and tried vibrations again. Atacama shed some sand, but the rock stayed attached.
On May 1, engineers pushed harder. They tilted the drill more, rotated it, vibrated it and spun the bit. While they planned to run through the whole sequence multiple times, they didn't need to. On the very first attempt, Atacama let go, cracking apart as it hit the Martian surface at long last. I can almost hear Curiosity's sigh of relief.
For a multibillion-dollar science mission 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) from Earth, this was a remarkably human kind of problem to have — I mean, imagine having gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe for six days. Best of all, the whole saga was captured by Curiosity's cameras, so we get to enjoy some GIFs.
Freed of its unwanted passenger, Curiosity has returned to its regularly scheduled programming to uncover the secrets of Mars, ready to take on new challenges that come its way.
