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Curiosity rover got the Atacama rock stuck to its robotic arm during a collection on Mars, in an unprecedented problem for NASA that required vibrations, rotations, and maneuvers until its detachment on May 1st.
The Curiosity rover faced an unprecedented problem on Mars when a rock became stuck in its robotic arm during a sample collection on the Red Planet. NASA released a sequence of images showing the robot’s attempts to free itself from the rock, which only detached after maneuvers performed on May 1st.
Curiosity rover got stuck to a rock on Mars
The incident occurred while drilling a rock nicknamed Atacama. On August 25, the Curiosity rover was using its drill to extract a sample when, upon retracting the robotic arm, the entire rock detached from the ground and remained suspended in the fixed sleeve surrounding the rotary drill.
The Atacama rock measures about 0.4 meters wide at the base, is 15 centimeters thick, and weighs approximately 13 kg. Curiosity’s robotic arm features a 2.7 kg drill, designed to probe Martian rocks, collect material, and store samples.
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Images showed attempt to break free
The series released by NASA was recorded by black-and-white hazard avoidance cameras, positioned on the front of Curiosity’s chassis, in addition to navigation cameras located on the rover’s mast and head. The images show the rock stuck to the robot’s arm and the attempts to solve the problem.
NASA had never faced such a situation. Previous drills had caused fractures or separation of the upper layers of Martian rocks, but an entire rock stuck to a rover’s arm had not occurred before.
Team managed to free the Curiosity rover
The mission team initially tried to vibrate the drill to dislodge the rock, but Atacama remained stuck. On April 29, technicians reoriented Curiosity’s robotic arm and vibrated the drill again, without success.
On May 1st, the team further tilted the drill, rotated it, vibrated it, and initiated new maneuvers. The expectation was to repeat the process several times, but the rock detached on the very first round and fractured upon hitting the ground.
The Curiosity rover landed on Mars on August 5, 2012, and over 13 years, it has been exploring the Red Planet in search of clues about its potentially habitable past.
