Mars Astrobiology: Recent Status and Progress - Planetary Exploration and Science: Recent Results and Advances - page 184

Fig. 8.22 ( Left ): This view from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) in NASA's Curiosity Mars
Rover shows the sandstone rock target “Windjana” and its immediate surroundings. The open hole
from sample collection is 1.6 cm (0.63 in.) in diameter and is about 2 cm (0.8 in.) deep. It was
drilled on Sol 621 (May 5th, 2014) ( http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=
6237 - NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, May 12th, 2014); and ( right ): NASA's Curiosity Mars rover
used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) instrument on its robotic arm to illuminate and record
this nighttime view of the sandstone rock target “Windjana”. The rover had previously drilled a
hole and collected sample powdered material from the interior of the rock, for future analysis
by laboratory instruments inside the Curiosity rover. See the dark gray sandy material from the
interior of the sedimentary rock, different from the reddish sand material which covers the Martian
top surface. A vertical array of pits in the side of the hole resulted from using the laser-shooting
Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument to assess composition at those points ( http://mars.
jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=6236 - NASA/JPL-CaltechSSS, May 13, 2014)
Curiosity's hammering drill collects powdered sample material from the interior
of a rock, and then the rover prepares and delivers portions of the sample to
laboratory instruments on board. The first two Martian rocks drilled and analyzed
this way were mudstone slabs neighboring each other in Yellowknife Bay, about
4 km (2.5 miles) northeast of the rover's current location at a waypoint called
“The Kimberley.” Those two rocks yielded evidence last year of an ancient lake
bed environment with key chemical elements and a chemical energy source that
provided conditions billions of years ago favorable for microbial life (Various 2014 )
(Figs. 8.22 and 8.23 ).