NASA’s Curiosity Rover Frees Its Drill From a Rock

This series of images shows NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover as it stuck a rock to the drill at the end of its robotic arm and, after waving the arm and operating the drill several times, finally loosened the rock. The footage showing the entire process was captured by the black-and-white hazard cameras on the front of Curiosity’s chassis and by the navigation cameras on its mast, or head.

On April 25, 2026, Curiosity drilled a sample of a rock nicknamed “Atacama,” which measures about 1.5 feet in diameter at its base, 6 inches thick and weighs about 28.6 pounds (13 kilograms). When the rover retracted its arm, the entire rock rose off the ground, suspended by the fixed sleeve that surrounds the rotating drill bit. Drilling has fractured or separated upper layers of rock in the past, but no rock has ever remained attached to the drill sleeve. The team first tried vibrating the drill to shake the rock, but saw no change.

Then, on April 29, they tried to reorient Curiosity’s robotic arm and make the drill vibrate again. Images in the GIF show sand falling from Atacama, but the rock remained attached to the rover.

Finally, on May 1, the Curiosity team tried again, tilting the drill more, rotating and vibrating it, and spinning the drill bit. The team had planned to perform these actions several times, but the rock came loose on the first lap, fracturing as it hit the ground.

Figure A is the same GIF with yellow timestamps added in the upper left corner.

Figure B is an alternate view of the same activities from the navigation cameras on Curiosity’s mast or head.

Curiosity was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL is leading the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio.

To learn more about Curiosity, visit:

science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity