Curiosity Drilled Into a Rock on Mars And Gave Scientists a Big Surprise
By Michelle Starr
Published on May 6, 2026.
The Curiosity rover, which has been drilling on Mars since 2012, recently discovered a surprising surprise when it plunged its rotary-percussive drill into a rock named Atacama, intended to pulverize the material into powder that can be examined in greater detail. However, when Curiosity removed the drill from the rock, the entire 13-kilogram (28.6-pound) slab of rock just came up with it. This has never happened before in Curiosity's 13.5 years on Mars. The rover has had several setbacks since its arrival on Mars in 2012, including electrical shorts in the percussable mechanism, a suspected piece of debris hampering the brake, and a suspension indefinitely suspended indefinitely in November 2016 due to a brake issue. Since then, Curiosity's drilling operations have yielded several major discoveries, including long-chain alkanes in the Martian mudstone.
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