Mars rover hits rocky snag with power tool
All driller, no filler
NASA's Curiosity Rover got a rock stuck to the drill at the end of its robotic arm, necessitating some remote-controlled shaking and jiggling to free the tool.
We've all been there, doing a bit of do-it-yourself with a power tool when something awful happens. It might be hitting a pipe while drilling a hole for a Rawlplug. Or punching through a drywall to find nothing beyond.
In this case, NASA's trundlebot drilled a sample from a rock, lifted its drill and… the rock came too.
The rock, dubbed "Atacama" and measuring 1.5 feet in diameter at its base and 6 inches thick, weighed approximately 28.6 pounds (13 kilograms). After drilling the sample on April 25, the rover operators retracted Curiosity's arm as they had done many times before. However, this time, the entire rock was lifted, "suspended by the fixed sleeve that surrounds the rotating...
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