Just last week Mars rover Curiosity had hammered flat slab of rock on Gale Crater. NASA says that hammering was done to check whether the drill tool, held on the end of the rover’s arm was working fine. The tool functioned as expected and everything turned out fine.

So this week Curiosity went ahead and drilled a 6cm deep hole in the Martian rock. The drilling provided sample of rock in powdered form. Now the next step will be to send the powder samples to labs on board Curiosity rover where they will be observed and studied.

These samples can give NASA scientists big clue about how planet Mars was in past. May be they will also tell us whether Mars once had life or not?

Image Credit: NASA