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On the way to Mount Sharp Curiosity drilled sandstone and "shoot" laser
Of course, this device is not made for the pleasure of operators from NASA, and to provide scientific data on the composition of rocks found on part of the route "Kimberly". So, around mid-May, it was decided to drill sandstone, on the way to Mount Sharp, and take a few samples drilled mass.
There were two openings, one of which may be considered "training", it was also compared with the second orifice, trying to find differences in the structure and composition of the constituent species. It turned out that the rock - sandstone, which, by itself, was not a surprise to scientists.
What is the "driving" test drilling. I>
Sandstone in this section of the route meets all the time, so that more stops for drilling (and indeed scheduled stops) on the way to Mount Sharp is not expected. Now the rover is still on the site where the holes were drilled, however, one of these days it will go on.
During the promotion rover selected samples are placed in an onboard laboratory device, will be analyzed during idle engine rover.
By the way, in the very next hole and you can see the point. This is precisely the traces of the laser, which is vaporizing the rock allows the spectrometer to analyze the composition of the substance at the site of penetration of the laser beam.
Via universityherald
Source: habrahabr.ru/post/223535/
