LOS ANGELES - For the first time, a robot has drilled into a rock on Mars and collected a sample, and scientists are patting themselves on the back.
The Curiosity rover extended its robotic arm and used the drill carried there to bore a hole 0.63 inches wide and 2.5 inches deep into John Klein, as the Martian rock was dubbed. Within that hole, scientists believe, is evidence of the wet environments that existed on Mars eons ago.
Hole has scientists swooning
The successful use of the drill alone has scientists in a tizzy. This means that Curiosity is "a fully operating analytical laboratory on Mars," said John Grunsfeld, with NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
"This is the biggest milestone accomplishment for the Curiosity team since the sky-crane landing last August," he said.
Twitter geeks were applauding: "Holey Mars exploration Batman!" tweeted Sustainable2.
Mission project manager Richard Cook said in January that the drilling was the most significant engineering that the team has done since landing.
Cook said the terrain was a big unknown and, thus, a big challenge. The area Curiosity rolled into is known as Yellowknife Bay, a place very different from the landing site at Gale Crater.