Tools at Curiosity's 'Fingertips'

September 06, 2012

This engineering drawing shows the five devices that make up the turret at the end of the arm on NASA's Curiosity rover. These include: the drill for acquiring powdered samples from interiors of rocks; the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS); the sample processing subsystem named Collection and Handling for Interior Martian Rock Analysis (CHIMRA), which includes a scoop that can scoop up lose dirt from the Martian surface; the Dust Removal Tool (DRT) and the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI).