rarity can be heavy handed . Its drill , used to investigate geological sampling on Mars , has frequently check the rocks that NASA scientists have wanted to peer inwardly . But anew software package updatemeans that now it can go more gently with its exercise .
curio has six options on its drill . Between the diffused and hard arrange , there ’s an almost 20 - fold increase in energy . In the past , the default drilling software has stated at Level 4 — the 4th high energy place setting . When Curiosity arrived at Mount Sharp last year , the first sampling it practise broke under the force , and there had been legion similar incidents beforehand .
Now , a new algorithm has been sent up to Curiosity that secure that drilling always starts at Level 1 and only increment if advancement is too slow . “ Curiosity ’s drill is fundamentally a hammer and chisel , and this give us a way not to hammer as hard , ” John Michael Morookian , who ferment on the Curiosity sampling squad , told Sen.
The first sample distribution to be drilled with the new algorithm aboard was called Mojave 2 . Using the first two drilling configurations , the rover make a hole 2.6 inches mystifying in ten minutes , cause no damage to the sample ( see above ) . Now , NASA scientists are work out what the crystals within the stone can tell us about the Martian landscape painting . Meanwhile , Curiosity has expend the last few week explore Pahrump Hills , which sits at the bottom of Mount Sharp .
irrespective of where it explore next , though , at least now we experience that the rover will go mildly with its exercise . And , in number , we should find out even more about the Red Planet that it ’s lento exploring . [ Sen ]
Image by NASA
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