NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has resumed full science operations after a successful diagnosis of the likely cause of a change in voltage on the six-wheeled robot.
The one tonne rover resumed operations on November 23, NASA said. Activities over the weekend included use of Curiosity’s robotic arm to deliver portions of powdered rock to a laboratory inside the rover.
The powder has been stored in the arm since the rover collected it by drilling into the target rock “Cumberland” six months ago. Several portions of the powder have already been analysed. The laboratory has flexibility for examining duplicate samples in different ways. The decision to resume science activities resulted from the success of work to diagnose the likely root cause of a November 17 change in voltage on the vehicle.