Mars Curiosity rover scoop tests turn up bright Martian ‘schmutz’

Yesterday, the Mars Curiosity rover took its third scoop of Martian soil, which was the first scoop actually delivered to the rover's analysis equipment. The first scoop, taken on October 7th, was aborted while the science team investigated a bright object spotted on the ground nearby, which turned out to be a small piece of plastic from the rover itself. The second scoop, taken on October 12th, was discarded when it dug up small bright particles in the soil, and there was worry that it was more debris from the rover. However, upon investigation, the scientists found that these particles — which they have called "schmutz" — are actually of Martian origin.

They determined that the particles were native to Mars by spotting more of them embedded in clumps of soil around the scooped area — where particles of the rover couldn't have ended up. The team plans on investigating these bright particles after they complete their test-runs of the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) and Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instruments — the reason these scoops were taken in the first place.

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Once they went ahead with the third scoop, the CheMin instrument began analyzing its first soil sample.

"We are crossing a significant threshold for this mission by using CheMin on its first sample," said John Grotzinger, Project Scientist for the Curiosity team. "This instrument gives us a more definitive mineral-identifying method than ever before used on Mars: X-ray diffraction. Confidently identifying minerals is important because minerals record the environmental conditions under which they form."

Even though Curiosity dumped the first two samples, the effort of taking them wasn't wasted. The first scoop was always intended to be used simply to clean any particles of Earth-origin that may be still in the scoop from its manufacture, assembly and trip to Mars. By vibrating the scoop as it held the sample, the rover used the Martian soil particles to scrub the scoop clean. The second scoop was also used in this way, to ensure that the first scrub didn't miss anything.

[ Related: Martian 'blueberries' may be evidence of life on the red planet ]

Curiosity is currently in what is being called 'the Rocknest' — an area with several dark-coloured rocks amid wind-blown sand. It will remain in the area while it conducts tests of its instruments and investigates these and any other findings further, before moving on towards its goal of reaching Glenelg, the area of darker soil at the foot of Mount Sharp.