I'm John Bachelord, behind the black Bob Zimmerman.

The last we left on the surface of Mars Curiosity was struggling to drill a hole in a particularly

stubborn rock.

Was it the drill?

Was it a bad day for Curiosity?

Was it the rock?

Bob Zimmerman is here to update us on the ambition of Curiosity to bring back or to

explicate because it has lab on board what that rock is made of.

How are we doing Bob?

The science team of Curiosity attempted for the fifth time this past week to drill into

a geological layer they call the Mach band.

It's a very visible flat layer that is visible on the flanks of Mount Sharp in many places

all at the same elevation.

So it's a unique layer.

It seems to be resistant to erosion.

That's why you get this flat form, the ledges essentially on the flanks.

Well, some parts of our eyes, because it's resistant, it's also hard to drill into.

They tried four times, we're not successful.

They tried a fifth time this past weekend.

I have a picture of the drill hole on behind the black.

It appeared to me that they've drilled deep enough now to get samples for analysis for

the first time of the Mach band.

...