NASA’s Curiosity rover, which has been on the surface of Mars for over a decade, experienced an unusual incident during a drilling operation at the end of April. A boulder weighing about 13 kilograms got stuck in the robotic arm of the vehicle, temporarily preventing its activity.
It all happened on April 25, when Curiosity was drilling a rock named “Atacama”. During the operation, the piece of rock not only broke off, but became attached to the rover’s drill bit and was lifted off the ground with it.
According to NASA data, the rock was sizable: about 0.5 meters wide at the base, 15 centimeters thick and an estimated weight of 13 kilograms, according to Space.com.
Although such missions are designed to deal with extreme conditions on Mars — from intense radiation and dust storms to temperatures that can drop below -120 degrees Celsius — the situation created was unprecedented in the history of the Curiosity rover.
NASA engineers initially tried to free the arm by vibrating the drill, but were unsuccessful. After four days, a new procedure was tried, reorienting the arm and repeating the vibrations, at which point some of the dust came off, but the rock remained attached.
It wasn’t until May 1, after a complete change of strategy that included tilting and rotating the robotic arm, but also repeating vibrations, that the rover finally broke free. The boulder fell to the Martian soil and broke on impact.
The incident, while unusual and potentially problematic for a multibillion-dollar mission hundreds of millions of kilometers from Earth, ended without major consequences. Curiosity has resumed its regular exploration activity on Mars.
