( CNN ) -- The Mars rover Curiosity will get to try out its scoop this weekend , according to current NASA plans . `` The request that the engineers made to the scientists was : Find us a good sandbox , a good sand pit , to play in here , on our way to Glenelg , '' said Mike Watkins , Curiosity mission manager at NASA 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena , California , at a press conference Thursday . `` This site , Rocknest , is exactly that . '' The vehicle is currently parked 400 meters as the crow flies from Bradbury Landing , where it landed on August 6 . It will likely stay there for another two weeks , with scooping to begin on Saturday . Curiosity rotated its wheel around the sandy material where it is to make sure that it was loose , dry soil , Watkins said . The rover will use its instruments to further determine what this sand is made of , to make sure it meets the scientists ' needs . The sand also serves as a sort of `` mouthwash '' for Curiosity to finish cleaning out its hardware , NASA experts said . There are five tools at the end of the rover 's robotic arm . The Collection and Handling for Interior Martian Rock Analysis mechanism does scooping , processing and sample drop-off . What we 've done on Mars , and what 's next . Although the hardware was clean when it was assembled at NASA facilities , it 's impossible to avoid an oily film that accumulates as a result of being on Earth , said Daniel Limonadi , a sampling expert at JPL . The sample analysis instrument on Curiosity is so sensitive that it needs this film scrubbed away . The handling of sand sample will be used as a way to accomplish this , Limonadi said . Effectively , the rover will vibrate the sand on sensitive hardware surfaces to sand-blast them , then spit the material out and repeat three times . Scientists were looking for a `` boring '' and `` safe '' Martian sand dune for this purpose to make sure that it would n't do something weird such as turn to paste or absorb water , Limonadi said . The rover will be performing an X-ray diffraction experiment , using a device called ChemMin , to help detect the minerals present in the sample . This technique has never been done before on Mars , said Ashwin Vasavada , deputy project scientist for the rover mission . `` Even the most boring sand on Mars is going to be a new result in that respect . '' Mission specialists say the rover will probably end up at Glenelg around the rover 's 90th Martian day , and then Curiosity will pause to try out its drilling system . There will be a similar cleaning activity for the drill . Days on Mars are about 40 minutes longer than on Earth , and the people working on the mission are still living on `` Mars time . '' In its first two months on Mars , Curiosity stumbled upon an area where it appears that water once flowed in a vigorous stream . Scientists say the rover spotted rock outcrops that seem to have formed in the presence of water , with rounded gravels that may have been transported by water . But the rover did not linger at these sites . Instead , drivers proceeded to command Curiosity to continue moving toward Glenelg , a site of scientific interest because it contains three types of terrain , including layered bedrock . `` We think there 's even better versions of that same material at Glenelg , at least that 's the hypothesis , '' Vasavada said . If that does n't pan out , Curiosity can visit some of the outcrops it 's already passed on the way back . After Glenelg , Curiosity is bound for a 3-mile-high mountain called Mount Sharp , composed of layers of sediment that have built up over time . These layers may hold organic molecules , indicating that at one time life could have subsisted . Also this week , Curiosity checked in on Mars using the mobile application Foursquare . While no human will be overthrowing the rover 's check-in supremacy anytime soon , users of Foursquare can score a Curiosity-themed badge when checking in at certain science-y locations . This program will go into effect later this year . Read more about the Mars rover on CNN 's Light Years blog .
` ` get us a sandbox , '' I asked scientists . They will scoop up sand for mineral analysis and to install some hardware . The truck is on its way to a site called Paradise .