Watch NASA's Curiosity rover 'struggle' to remove a rock that got stuck on its robotic arm for nearly a week
SMRTR summary
A rock on Mars nearly got the better of one of humanity's most sophisticated robots. NASA's Curiosity rover spent nearly a week with a 29-pound Martian rock, nicknamed Atacama, stubbornly lodged on the end of its robotic drill arm, something that had never happened before in the mission's history.
Scientists tried vibrating, tilting, rotating and spinning the drill to shake it loose. Nothing worked, until finally, on May 1st, the rock broke free on the very first attempt of a new maneuver, cracking into at least two pieces when it hit the Martian surface.
The bad news? The drill samples were lost in the process, meaning scientists walked away empty-handed from what had looked like a promising target for analysis.
Still, Curiosity soldiers on. The rover has had a remarkable stretch lately, collecting its largest-ever haul of organic molecules and photographing mysterious "dragon scale" formations, keeping scientists very busy on both planets.
SMRTR provides this summary for quick context. The original article belongs to Live Science.
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