MARS CURIOSITY ROVER HALTS DRILLING

Curiosity rover has been continuing its journey towards Mount Sharp. It encountered wheel slip in the terrain called Hidden Valley, en route to the Pahrump Hills. A decision was then taken to carry out more drilling until a new path was set. However, the initial test mini-drill into a flat slab of rock called Bonanza King was halted due to what is believed to be movement of the rock during drilling:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28860809

To examine what has happened, Curiosity is collecting a large sequence of photographs for assessment. If the outcome is positive, Curiosity will resume drilling a full 6 cm deep hole in Bonanza King.

Deputy Project Scientist Dr Joy Crisp explained: 'The main purpose of drilling this rock is to find out the mineralogy of the rock unit exposed in Hidden Valley. It looks different from the rocks we've drilled so far, so we are hoping that the mineralogy will also be different, potentially telling us new information about past environmental conditions on Mars.'

Comment: It's fascinating how the Curiosity project team are able to turn unexpected developments into positive new studies on Mars. This is  truly wonderful scientific mission of exploration on the Red Planet.