Curiosity Tidies Up a Bit on Mars

[n2doc]

This image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows the patch of rock cleaned by the first use of the rover's Dust Removal Tool (DRT). Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

It’s a bit dusty on Mars, and so the Curiosity rover has now cleaned up a little spot. For the first time ever, the newest Mars rover has used its Dust Removal Tool.

“The underlying rock and the windblown dust on top of it are made of different material,” the @Mars_Curiosity Twitter feed explained. “Analysis to come.”

It will be interesting to find out what the dark circular features are in the rock. The target areas that was cleaned is named “Ekwir_1,” and it is on a rock in the “Yellowknife Bay” area of Mars’ Gale Crater. The rover team is also evaluating rocks in that area as potential targets for first use of the rover’s hammering drill in coming weeks.

The Dust Removal Tool is a motorized, wire-bristle brush designed to prepare selected rock surfaces for enhanced inspection by the rover’s science instruments. It is built into the turret at the end of the rover’s arm, visible in the image below.


Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/99316/curiosity-tidies-up-a-bit-on-mars/

[LeftofObama]

1. Looks like a crop circle to me.

Maybe the space aliens have a Dust Removal Tool on their spacecraft?

[DryRain]

2. Yes! Proof positive of aliens on Mars! n/t