NASA Mars Rover Curiosity to Drill into Cumberland Rock

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has a new site to drill. Now, the rover will set course for the location in the coming days. It will eventually collect crucial samples for analysis so that scientists can learn a little bit more about the Red Planet.

So where exactly will Curiosity be drilling? The site is called "Cumberland," which lies about nine feet west of the rock where the rover's drill first touched the Martian surface in February. There, Curiosity took the first ever sample from Mars from a rock called "John Klein."  This first test was a success. Scientists were able to see evidence of an ancient environment that was favorable for microbial life, hinting at a Martian past that may have supported alien life.

Now, this second drilling may give scientists a bit more information about Mars. It's designed to confirm the results from the first drilling, which indicated the chemistry of the first powdered sample from John Klein was much less oxidizing than that of a soil sample the rover scooped up before it began drilling.

"We know there is some cross-contamination from the previous sample each time," said Dawn Summer, a long-time planner for Curiosity's science team at the University of California at Davis, in a news release. "For the Cumberland sample, we expect to have most of that cross-contamination come from a similar rock, rather than from very different soil."

While the two drilling sites are similar, Cumberland seems to have more of the erosion-resistant granules that cause surface bumps. These bumps are concretions, or clumps of minerals, which formed when water soaked the rock long ago. Analysis of a sample containing more material from these concretions could provide information about the variability within the rock layer than includes both John Klein and Cumberland.

Currently, Curiosity is roaming the surface of Mars as it monitors the planet's atmosphere. About nine months into a two-year prime mission, the rover will drive toward the base of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall layered mountain inside the Gale Crater.

Want to follow the rover's movements? You can by checking out NASA's website here.