Curiosity Completes a Stroll Around Mars' Mountain, Considers Drilling

With all the excitement of Rosetta and the Philae lander going on, we've nearly forgotten about our favorite Mars-roaming robot, the Curiosity Rover. Now Curiosity is calling in to let NASA techs know that it has taken a stroll around a mountain twice and now it's bored.

Curiosity rolled up to its latest mission landmark, Mount Sharp, last September, and after taking a few initial samples it started strolling around the mountainside taking in the scenery - with a scientific eye of course.

In a reconnaissance "walkabout" at the base of the mountain, Curiosity has been spending its time closely examining a series of selected geological outcrops, looking for clues about the dramatic changes the Martian environment underwent in its past.

Curiosity has been paying particular attention to a pale outcrop known as "Pahrump Hills," which boasts an impressive diversity in geological texture. Potential targets for study and drilling were evaluated from a distance with the rover's mast-mounted cameras and a laser-firing spectrometer.

"There's a lot to study here," Curiosity Deputy Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada said in a statement. "The variations we've seen so far tell us that the environment was changing over time, both as the sediments were laid down and also after they hardened into bedrock."

Curiosity has already made two passes to examine Pahrump Hills, almost as if it were pacing in indecision. That's because the Curiosity team is trying to decide whether or not to drill into some target rocks during a third pass, to collect sample material for onboard laboratory analysis.

"We have selected targets that we think give us the best chance of answering questions about how the sediments were deposited - in standing water? flowing water? sand blowing in the wind? - and about the composition during deposition and later changes," Vasavada explained.

An experiment was also conducted during Curiosity's walkabout to determine why some wind-blown ripples on the Martian surface have proved more difficult to cross than anticipated. Last August, on its way to Mount Sharp, the rover nearly got itself stuck trying to cross an unexpected sand trap. Determining why exactly this occurred can better prepare the intrepid robot for future missions.