10/12/2012

Curiosity Rover Gets the ‘Scoop’ on Mars

This image from the right Mast Camera (Mastcam) of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows a scoop full of sand and dust lifted by the rover's first use of the scoop on its robotic arm. In the foreground, near the bottom of the image, a bright object is visible on the ground. The object might be a piece of rover hardware. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
This image from the right Mast Camera (Mastcam) of NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity shows a scoop full of sand and dust lifted by the rover’s first use of the scoop on its robotic arm. In the foreground, near the bottom of the image, a bright object is visible on the ground. The object might be a piece of rover hardware. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL

Curiosity scooped its first sample of Martian soil on October 7, but activities were halted after a small, bright object—which NASA now says is likely a piece of plastic from the rover—was spotted on the ground. Mike Watkins, Curiosity’s mission manager, provides an update.

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Michael Watkins

Michael Watkins is the Curiosity Mission Manager at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

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About Denise Chow

Denise Chow is a sci-tech editor at Live Science and a former associate producer for Science Friday.

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