On Mars is a bit dusty, so Curiosity decided to clean up, and it can be congratulated with achievement - a small area of the Martian surface is cleaned. For the first time the Rover has adopted one of their tools device dust removal DRT (Dust Removal Tool)located on the arm of the Rover.

Curiosity notes on Twitter: "the Underlying rock, and the top layer of dust from different materials".

The surface treated with the tool DRT

It will be interesting to know what is the origin of dark circles on the breed. The area that was selected for the "cleaning" has received the name "Ekwir_1", it is located in a place called "Yellowknife Bay". The team Curiosity tries to evaluate the nature of rocks in this area, because it is a potential target for using drill MSL in the coming weeks.

The device for dust removal DRT (Dust Removal Tool) - motorized, wire brush, which should prepare the surface for further study using the tools of the Rover. Tool DRT is at the end of the manipulator of the Rover (see image below):

The team of Rover explains that the selection of a suitable goal for the first use of the tool DRT is crucial.

Diana Trujillo (Diana Trujillo) from the Jet propulsion Laboratory (Jet Propulsion Laboratory ), NASA, says: "We wanted to make sure that the chosen optimally suitable target for the first time. It was necessary to "immerse" tool in less than half an inch without risk to equipment. We had a flat surface... and the results are really impressive"

The tool was designed by Honeybee Robotics, which previously participated in the creation of a device for drilling rock (Rock Abrasion Tool) for Rovers Spirit and Opportunity.