A newly released series of images captures the unusual moment when NASA’s Curiosity rover got stuck in the drill at the end of its robotic arm on Mars. Engineers moved the arm and operated the drill repeatedly over several days until they finally freed the rock.
The entire sequence was recorded by Curiosity’s black-and-white hazard camera mounted on the front of the rover and a navigation camera mounted on its mast or head.
Unusual drill accident on Mars
On April 25, 2026, Curiosity drilled into a rock known as Atacama and collected a sample. The rock is estimated to be about 1.5 feet wide at its base, about 6 inches thick, and weigh about 28.6 pounds (13 kilograms).
When the rover pulled back its arm after digging, the entire rock unexpectedly lifted off the Martian surface. The rock remained attached to the fixed sleeve surrounding the rotating drill bit.
While Curiosity’s drilling operations have previously caused rock formations to crack or separate, this is the first time that rock remained attached to the drill sleeve itself, NASA said. Mission engineers first tried vibrating the drill to remove it, but it had no visible effect.
NASA engineers try multiple solutions
A few days later, on April 29, the team adjusted the position of Curiosity’s robotic arm and activated the drill’s vibrations again. Images from the spacecraft show sand spilling from Atacama’s rock during the experiment, but the rock has not yet come loose.
On May 1st, engineers made another attempt using a combination of steeper drill angles, drill rotation, vibration, and drill bit rotation. The team expected they might need to repeat the process several times, but the rock fractured during the first attempt. It shattered when it hit the Martian ground.
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Curiosity’s ongoing Mars mission
NASA’s Curiosity rover was developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. JPL oversees the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program.
