Mars Science Laboratory Mission Team Members

May 11, 2026

Written by Michelle Minitti, MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator

Earth planning date: Friday, May 8, 2026

While we know the monikers Ingenuity and Perseverance are attached to our sister helicopter and rover on the Mars 2020 mission, those characteristics were in full force with Curiosity over the past week. The science we achieved this week was enabled by the ingenuity of the Curiosity engineers and scientists manifested in this extraordinary time lapse . It demonstrates the careful dance of arm motions employed — each one diligently planned by the team — to free Curiosity’s drill from the “Atacama” target. Watch the arm twist, bend, and turn with a rock slab attached, and be amazed.

The highest-priority activities after liberating the drill included imaging the drill with Mastcam and ChemCam RMI, and imaging into the now-empty drill hole with MAHLI (the image above).…