Curiousity Checks First Sample From Mar’s Clay Bearing Unit

Those scientists working with the rover – Curiosity Mars of NASA – are excited over exploring a region – clay bearing unit. Then it launched the spacecraft. Curiosity has now tasted the sample from Mount Sharp. It has drilled a portion of bedrock – Aberlady – on April 6. It has given sample to mineralogy laboratory on April 10. This drill was easy, unlike other targets that the rover faced at Ridge Vera Rubin.

This rock was soft that there was no need of percussive technique that is used for getting samples from rocks that are harder. This is the first sample of the mission that is obtained using drill bitrotation. Curiosity has been doing its work for the last seven years, said Jim Erickson, the project manager of Curiosity.  He said that this has been the major step in their journey upwards to Mount Sharp. The scientists have been very enthusiastic for analyzing the sample for finding traces of clay minerals as they are usually formed in water. Scientists want to check the clay minerals traces to confirm presence of the water.

NASA’s MRO has spied a hard clay signal at this place long before the rover landed in the year 2012. The source of this signal could help scientists know if a wetter ear of Mars has shaped the layer of Mount Sharp. The mountain is 5 km tall which Curiosity is in the process of climbing. All throughout the journey, Curiosity has come up with clay minerals in mudstones. The mudstones settled as river sediment which settled in ancient lakes near 3.5bn years ago. With water everywhere on Mars, the lakes have dried up eventually. The rover came here after seeing the clay beacon from space. Since Curiosity has been searching the place, scientists can look as geological tourists.