Curiosity's First Clay Unit Drill Hole.<sup id="cite_ref-NASA-20190411_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-NASA-20190411-1">[1]</a></sup><p>The Mast Camera, or Mastcam, on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover captured this set of images before and after it drilled a rock nicknamed "Aberlady," on Saturday, April 6, 2019 (the 2,370th Martian day, or sol, of the mission). The rock and others nearby appear to have moved when the drill was retracted. This was the first time Curiosity has drilled in the long-awaited "clay-bearing unit."
</p><p>The scene is presented with a color adjustment that approximates white balancing to resemble how the rocks and sand would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth.
</p><p>Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam. A division of Caltech, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington and built the project's Curiosity rover. For more information about Curiosity, visit <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl">http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl</a> or <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html">https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html</a>.
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<p class="reflist-talk-title">References</p>
<div class="reflist" style="list-style-type: decimal;">
<ol class="references"><li id="cite_note-NASA-20190411-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-NASA-20190411_1-0">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite style="font-style:normal">Good, Andrew (<span class="mw-formatted-date" title="2019-04-11">11 April 2019</span>). "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7376">Curiosity Tastes First Sample in 'Clay-Bearing Unit'</a>". <i><a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/NASA" title="NASA">NASA</a></i>. Retrieved on <span class="mw-formatted-date" title="2019-04-12">12 April 2019</span>.</cite></span>
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NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA23138">https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA23138</a> (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/archive/PIA23138.GIF">image link</a>); see also <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7376">https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7376</a>