NASA’s Curiosity rover has been creating ripples of curiosity since its launch in 2011. This noted successful mission is facing some technical problems from the start of this month.
Curiosity Mars rover has been taking pictures, analyzing samples, tracking weather and drilling rocks as a part of the mission. Earlier this month, scientists recognized some technical problem with a motor that moves the rover’s drill.
It is, at present in a site on lower Mount Sharp, which has been selected for the mission’s seventh sample collection drilling of 2016. On December 5, the scientists found that is was not completing the commands for drilling. It detected a fault in an early step in which the “drill feed” mechanism did not extend the drill to touch the rock target with the bit.
Steven Lee, Curiosity Deputy Project Manager said, “We are in the process of defining a set of diagnostic tests to carefully assess the drill feed mechanism. We are using our test rover here on Earth to try out these tests before we run them on Mars”. He added that they are cautious enough to restrict dynamic changes that could affect the diagnosis.
NASA is so much bothered about this problem as, the drill feed mechanism pushes the front of the drill outward, collects powdered rock that is analyzed by laboratory instruments inside the rover. The drill, as used at all 15 of the rock targets drilled so far, combines hammering and rotating-bit actions. This is used to penetrate the targets and collect the samples. At the current location, the drilling is now on hold.
Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity Project Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said, “We still have percussion available, but we would like to be cautious and use it for targets where we really need it, and otherwise use rotary-only where that can give us a sample.”
The Martian rover, although not alone, still stands out of the crowd. The NASA scientists are working on the issue day and night. They are with high hopes on getting a good news soon.
