This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
One small scoop full of powdered rock, one giant step forward for exogeology. Lovers of the good science of rock-breaking will find their breath catching at this image:
That's the first, folks. The first time we've ever drilled in to a rock on another planet. We're doing geology with a robot on another world. Us. Little ol' us. Makes me glad to be alive, that. Makes me proud to be a human, watching a robot we built doing the science I love, so very far from home.
So that's bedrock we're sampling:
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The sample comes from a fine-grained, veiny sedimentary rock called "John Klein," named in memory of a Mars Science Laboratory deputy project manager who died in 2011. The rock was selected for the first sample drilling because it may hold evidence of wet environmental conditions long ago. The rover's laboratory analysis of the powder may provide information about those conditions.
I know a lot of people are hoping for evidence that life was once possible there. I'll be honest with you: that might be neat, but I don't even care. If Mars was never a good place to live, it doesn't matter to me - what matters is that we made it there, that what we've learned here will allow us to puzzle out another planet's geologic past, that we're clever enough to figure it out. It matters that Mars has a geologic story to tell, and we know how to read that story. Life, if it ever existed, would just be a bonus at that point. But then, I'm a rock fan: a biologist's mileage may vary.
I'd love to be there someday, standing in the Martian daylight, preparing to take my hammer to a bona fide extraterrestrial rock. Granted, the light would seem a bit funny - here's the version that's not white balanced for Earth standards.
But seeing different rocks in a different light, formed under different conditions - how amazing is that? I can't wait for the papers that emerge from this mission. Learning the geology of Mars is sure to change our understanding of both planets, and who knows what unexpected horizons will open?
And if we're really damned lucky, a volcano will pop up while we're messing about the place. Hey, Curiosity - notice any suspect pits in the ground?
