Today on Mars: Curiosity Is All Set to Sift Sand and Bake Rocks
Sand Sifter This image shows the open inlet where powered rock and soil samples will be funneled down into the Mars rover Curiosity for analysis. It was taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on Curiosity's 36th Martian day, or sol, on Mars (Sept. 11 on Earth). MAHLI was about 8 inches away from the mouth of the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument when it took this picture. The entrance of the funnel is about 1.4 inches in diameter and the mesh screen is about 2.3 inches deep. Once the samples have gone down the 0.4-inch holes in the funnel, CheMin will be shooting X-rays at the samples to identify and quantify the minerals. Read more about what CheMin can do here. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSNASA is almost done with a month-long set of tests designed to make sure every part of the rover is working. A battery of tests checking out the...