Curiosity's New Drilling Technique

After more than a year without the use of the Curiosity Mars rover's drill, engineers have devised a workaround and tested it for the first time on the Red Planet. More testing of the drill method is planned for the future.

[neatodd]

Hurrah! A video without background music!

[Mythricia]

It would be so awesome to see more in-depth videos of this kind of problem solving. I don't know if there are reasons as to why we never get to see "first hand" material of this, or if it's just that you guys don't believe it's interesting enough to share with the world - or maybe you are just too busy doing the actual work to put any extra effort into documenting it for the general public - but believe me when I say there are so many of us out there, that would just *love* to see, hear, and watch how you guys and gals identify, solve, and implement things.

[DerAua]

Great job, keep it up! You guys give me hope for humanity!

[connecticutaggie]

Congratulations and thanks for never giving up on Curiosity!

[baflatoxin]

Loving all the engineering and problem solving. Good luck in the weeks to come!

[crybaby-mypp]

i have hardly ever been so excited in my life....I AM BLUSHING

[MattTrevett]

Can the stabilizers be lowered after starting the hole? Will you continue to test the feed mechanism periodically in case it starts working again?

[anilkumar]

Can it drill 50 feet to check water availability underground or have sensors to check water without drilling

[ViperEye]

Now _that's_ some impressive long-distance troubleshooting.

[bajadude]

Would love to see more drill test videos.

[stabilini]

Why if you push harder without a bit in the drill? Coulds that retract the stabilizers?

[raptorekpl]

Or you could send a manned mission to fix it... ;)
Good job JPL, best of the best :)

[CodeLeeCarter]

Any which way you can, For the Mission, always the mission.

[inkitatus]

brilliant machines, brilliant people!👍

[rkornilo]

Am I missing something?
The feed extender was not extending when commanded.
So the new technique is to FIRST extend the feed extender... that was not extending when commanded... What???
I can infer that there is some odd mechanical forces affecting the drill extender when it was being supported by the stabilizer posts, but I can only guess.
Well, glad you guys persevered. :-)

[countrycrusade]

curiosity's new technique look extremely interesting and stimulating, and i would love to grab a pair of those rocks.

[Pauuanthakali]

rovers kinda heftier than imagined! ..the drills a concrete carbide bit? i imagine a hollow circular diamond drill with suction hose would simplify the maneuvers and machine might necessary to jack hammer martian rock for sample collection.. idk, perhaps thats whats needed?

[quatranelittlefoot]

why not suction the dust and anylize but good job with what you have

[kennethgray]

Good thing they have that force sensor to kind of give them a sense of touch. I just hope that the drill don't ever grab and send the rover spinning on a merry go round ride.

[davdsmth]

Gene Kranz “Let's work the problem, people. Let's not make things worse by guessing.”

Standing upon the shoulders of giants.