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Curiosity Is Down to Its Fourth Scoop Full, Shoots Lasers at the Sand for Science

The second sand sample is being used for analysis

Oct 23, 2012 09:13 GMT  ·  By
Before and after Curiosity shot the sand with its laser
   Before and after Curiosity shot the sand with its laser

Curiosity is moving ahead with its planned mission, it has now collected a fourth scoop of sand for analysis, this one will be used by Curiosity's Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument.

Curiosity has been using the sand to scrub the instruments and remove any impurities before sending anything to be analyzed.

After the third such cleansing, Curiosity is sending a small portion of the sand it collected to the CheMin instrument. Another portion will be laid out on the observation tray.

Sand from a future scoop will be directed to the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument as well.

While it's doing all of this, Curiosity is also surveying its surroundings. It used its Mastcam to look around and see where it's going next, but it also used its Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) to analyze the sand around it, by shooting a laser at it.