Hey, look at that! The Curiosity rover drilled a 9th hole in Mars, just 18 sols after the last hole. That’s a new record for speed-drilling on the red planet! Or, as the powdered rock dust so clearly shows, the red planet with a grey center.
The Curiosity rover team is obeying a directive to drive less and drill more. They’re certainly fulfilling that by poking hole #9 just 18 Martian days (sols) after drilling hole #8. This is especially impressive as the next-fastest time between holes is 24 sols (between hole #5 and #6), and the average time between holes is over 100 sols.
On Sol 1137, Curiosity drilled a hole into the Greenhorn target, then imaged the hole. After completing environmental monitoring activity, the rover will check out the Big Sky dump pile and drill tailings from hole #8 using all camera filers.
Tip via Emily Lakdawalla
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
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