Curiosity Shakes Loose a Pesky Rock

After NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drilled a sample from this rock on April 25, 2026, it withdrew its robotic arm and pulled the entire rock off the surface with it. Engineers spent several days repositioning the arm and vibrating the drill to try and get the rock loose. When it finally detached on May 1, the rock broke into pieces.

This close-up image of the rock was produced by Curiosity’s Mast Camera, or Mastcam, on May 6. Nicknamed “Atacama,” the rock is estimated to be 1.5 feet in diameter at its base and 6 inches thick. It would weigh roughly 28.6 pounds on Earth (and about a third of that on Mars). The circular hole produced by Curiosity’s drill is visible in the rock.

See Atacama stuck on Curiosity’s drill.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

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Ben

I am the owner of Cerebral-overload.com and the Verizon Wireless Reviewer for Techburgh.com. My love of gadgets came from his lack of a Nintendo Game Boy when he was a child . I vowed from that day on to get his hands on as many tech products as possible. My approach to a review is to make it informative for the technofile while still making it understandable to everyone. Ben is a new voice in the tech industry and is looking to make a mark wherever he goes. When not reviewing products, I is also a 911 Telecommunicator just outside of Pittsburgh PA.

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