NASA Rover Curiosity used its on-board drills for the first time on February 8th, to sample Martian rock. The robot dug a hole of 2.5 inches deep and 0.63 inch diameter into the bedrock, in order to collect rock sample, which will be studied to gather evidence of the history of the planet. The collected sample will be analyzed by the instuments inside Curiosity within the next few days. The sample will first be analyzed for any Earth material which might have been accidentally stuck on the equipment.

Sources:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA16726

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE91808U20130209?irpc=932

  curiosity, drill, mars, nasa