The latest set of images released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently showed that the "Curiosity" Mars exploration rover encountered a rare situation during a routine drilling operation: a whole piece of rock accidentally pulled up from the surface of Mars became tightly stuck in the outer sleeve of the drill bit, and it took the rover several days to successfully get rid of it.
According to information and images released by NASA, the black-and-white hazard avoidance camera (installed on the front of the vehicle) and the navigation camera installed on the "head" mast of the "Curiosity" completely recorded this process. The footage shows that the stubborn rock finally fell off after several swings of the robotic arm and several starts and stops of the drilling rig.
The incident occurred on April 25, 2026 local time. On that day, the "Curiosity" rover collected drill samples on a rock named "Atacama". The rock is estimated to be about 0.46 meters wide at the base, about 15 centimeters thick, and weighs about 13 kilograms. When the drilling was completed and the robotic arm was recovered, the entire rock was accidentally "lifted" from the ground together with the drilling site, and was tightly attached to the fixed sleeve wrapping the rotating drill bit, leaving only a drilled hole or fractured layer as usual.
According to NASA, Curiosity has broken or peeled off the surface or rock structure of Martian rocks during many drilling processes before, but this is the first time that a whole piece of rock has been directly attached to the drill bit sleeve. Engineers initially tried to make the rock fall off on its own by activating the drill's vibration function, but the rock didn't budge.
On April 29, the mission team launched another escape operation by re-adjusting the attitude of the robotic arm and reusing the vibration function of the drilling rig. Sand grains from inside the "Atacama" rock continue to scatter in the image, but the rock itself still firmly "holds" the rover drill bit.
Then on May 1, the engineering team adopted a more radical combination plan: increasing the inclination angle of the drill bit, and at the same time cooperating with drill bit rotation, vibration and high-speed idling, hoping to use the superposition of multiple forces to shake the rock off the sleeve. Engineers had expected it would take multiple rounds, but the rock was successfully removed on the first try, cracking as it fell to the ground.
NASA stated that "Curiosity" was designed and built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, and is operated and managed by it. The mission is affiliated with NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington and continues to perform scientific exploration missions as part of the agency's Mars exploration plan. The engineering team will continue to use Curiosity to conduct geological and environmental investigations on Mars, and this "stubborn rock event" also provided important engineering experience for future drilling operations.