Curiosity update: Determining drill activities at Marimba

Sol 1421, August 5, 2016, update by USGS scientist Lauren Edgar: On Sol 1420 we planned a full drill hole on the target “Marimba” to characterize the composition of the Murray mudstone in this location.  However, we came in early this morning to find that the drill hole didn’t penetrate very far into this rock target, as seen in the above MAHLI image.  We’re trying to evaluate why this drill hole is different, and what prevented the drill from completing as planned.  The rover is healthy and all other activities completed successfully, so this might just be a harder rock target than we’ve seen… [More at link]