According to NASA, as regular readers of this blog will know, we returned to the area where we found disc shaped inclusions in the rocks, which we interpreted as potential crystals.
In the full text published on its website, NASA wrote: “Written by Susanne P. Schwenzer, Professor of Planetary Mineralogy at The Open University, UK
“If they are indeed crystals, and we compare them to Earth, they could be very interesting indicators of the environmental conditions. Hence, the excitement in the team is high that we found a good block to drill. Good means first and foremost that it contains abundant potential crystals, but of course there is more before we drill. We passed the rover’s stability test, as all wheels have to be on solid ground before we extend the arm. Then we passed the preload test, which tests the stability of the rock and the forces the arm experiences when the drill bit presses into the rock.
“With all those tests passed, we successfully drilled our 49th drill hole, called ‘Nazca.’”
