The Mars rover Curiosity will soon begin to drill into the Red Planet for the first time, mission officials said, ahead of the highly anticipated endeavor.

Scientists behind the $2.5 billion mission also explained the nature of the small “Martian flower,” which had caused a lot of buzz online because it was strikingly different from the surrounding rock.

Aileen Yingst, of the Planetary Science Institute, said that what could have passed as a flower was in fact a relatively large mineral grain or pebble.

“All of these are sedimentary rocks, telling us Mars had environments actively depositing material here,” Yingst said. “The different grain sizes tell us about different transport conditions.”

Curiosity is traveling toward a flat rock with pale veins that scientists hope will provide clues about any water that might have existed on Mars.

“Drilling into a rock to collect a sample will be this mission’s most challenging activity since the (August 6) landing. It has never been done on Mars,” said Richard Cook of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“The drill hardware interacts energetically with Martian material we don’t control. We won’t be surprised if some steps in the process don’t go exactly as planned the first time through.”

Curiosity will collect samples from inside the “John Klein” rock -- named in honor of a former Mars Science Laboratory deputy project manager who died in 2012 -- and analyze them to determine their chemical and mineral composition.

The rover’s cameras have shown several unexpected features on the rock, including veins, nodules, cross-bedded layering, a lustrous pebble embedded in sandstone and possibly some holes in the ground.

The mission, set to last at least two years, aims to study the Martian environment to prepare for a possible future manned mission.

US President Barack Obama has vowed to send humans to the planet by 2030. (AFP)


<관련 한글 기사>


화성에 핀 ’꽃’ 있다!


NASA의 화성탐사선 큐리오시티(Curiosity)가 화성에서 식물로 추정되는 것을 발견해 화제다.

인터넷에서 이미 화제가 된 해당 물질은 하얗고, 식물의 뿌리같기도 하다.

행성과학연구소(Planetary Science Institute) 아이린 잉스트(Aileen Yingst)는 그 물질이 꽃이 아니라 단순히 미네랄 성분일 수 있다고 전한 바 있다. "이건 모두 퇴적암입니다. 화성에도 생물이 살 수도 있다는 가능성이죠."라고 말했다.

큐리오시티는 화성에 물의 흔적이 있는지를 찾는 중으로 전해졌다.

또한 큐리오시티는 화성의 토양 조건을 조사하는 것에 가장 큰 목표를 두고 있으며, 이는 화성이 훗날 인간이 거주할 만한 환경으로 만드는 포부에 기반한다. 미 대통령 버락 오바마(Barack Obama)는 2030년까지 화성에 사람을 보내겠다는 약속을 한 바 있다.

NASA의 제트 추진 연구소 소속 리차드 쿡(Richard Cook)는 "드릴로 땅을 파고 화성 토양의 샘플을 수집하는 건 큐리오시티의 가장 중요한 목표죠. 8월 6일 착륙한 뒤로요. 몇 가지가 저희 계획대로 되지 않는다 하더라도 꾸준히 해나갈 겁니다."라고 말했다. (코리아헤럴드)