Curiosity fails again to drill into Vera Rubin Ridge
For the third time Curiosity has failed to drill into the rock on top of Vera Rubin Ridge.
Last night we learned that our drill attempt on “Inverness” was not successful, reaching only 4 mm into the rock.
The only successful drill attempt on the ridge occurred when they moved down off the top of the ridge to a slightly lower geological layer.
They are moving Curiosity to another candidate drill site on the ridge, where they will try again. While they imply in their reports that it is solely the hardness of the ground that is stopping them, I still wonder if the improvised drill technique, using the robot arm to push down rather than the drill’s jammed feed mechanism, is partly to blame. I would think that they have placed limits on how hard the arm can push to protect it.
For the third time Curiosity has failed to drill into the rock on top of Vera Rubin Ridge.
Last night we learned that our drill attempt on “Inverness” was not successful, reaching only 4 mm into the rock.
The only successful drill attempt on the ridge occurred when they moved down off the top of the ridge to a slightly lower geological layer.
They are moving Curiosity to another candidate drill site on the ridge, where they will try again. While they imply in their reports that it is solely the hardness of the ground that is stopping them, I still wonder if the improvised drill technique, using the robot arm to push down rather than the drill’s jammed feed mechanism, is partly to blame. I would think that they have placed limits on how hard the arm can push to protect it.