NASA Curiosity Rover Experiences Technical Snag: Latest Update On Mars Mission

The NASA Curiosity Rover, which is currently studying the Martian environment, stopped drilling after experiencing a technical problem with its motor function. On Dec. 1, 2016, the Curiosity team at NASA discovered that Curiosity failed to complete the drilling task as per the command given. The latest update from NASA suggests that the team is yet to find out the exact cause of the problem, after which it can be fixed. Till that time, the NASA Curiosity Rover will cease driving or moving its robotic arm.

NASA Curiosity Rover Drill Feed Device Malfunction

The rover originally landed on the Red Planet in the Gale crater in August 2012, after which it has been driving and collecting samples from various sites of the planet Mars. All total, Curiosity has traveled around 9.33 miles and climbed about 541 feet from its landing site on the surface of the Mars. Curiosity passed the famous "Murray Buttes" in September 2016 and traveled to the Mount Sharp, which is its seventh sample collection drilling site.

While Curiosity was drilling on the lower side of Mount Sharp, NASA scientists found that the rover encountered problems at the early stage of the procedure, due to which the drill feed device mechanism failed to properly extend the drill to touch the rocky target of drilling, reported Spaceflight Insider.

According to Space.com, Steven Lee, Deputy Project Manager of Curiosity, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said that, "We are in the process of defining a set of diagnostic tests to carefully assess the drill feed mechanism. We are using our test rover here on Earth to ty out these tests before we run them on Mars."

Lee added that, "To be cautious, until we run the tests on Curiosity, we want to restrict any dynamic changes that could affect the diagnosis. That means not moving the arm and not driving, which could shake it."

Curiosity has been instrumental in studying life on Mars. This technical snag has turned out to be a major stumbling stone in the Mars mission for now. Hopefully it will be rectified soon.