File:PIA17594-MarsCuriosityRover-JohKleinMudstoneDrillHole-20130510.jpg

Size of this preview: 800 × 546 pixels. Other resolutions: 320 × 218 pixels | 640 × 436 pixels | 1,024 × 698 pixels | 1,264 × 862 pixels.

Original file ‎(1,264 × 862 pixels, file size: 124 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. Information from its description page there is shown below.
Commons is a freely licensed media file repository. You can help.

Summary

Description	English: PIA17594: View into 'John Klein' Drill Hole in Martian Mudstone http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA17594 The hole that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover drilled into target rock "John Klein" provided a view into the interior of the rock, as well as obtaining a sample of powdered material from the rock. The rock is part of the Sheepbed mudstone deposit in the Yellowknife Bay area of Gale Crater. This image, taken by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera, reveals gray colored cuttings, rock powder and interior wall. Notice the homogeneous, fine grain size of the mudstone, and the irregular network of sulfate-filled hairline fractures. A vertical array of pits in the side of the hole resulted from using the laser-shooting Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument to assess composition at those points. The MAHLI took this image during the 270th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (May 10, 2013). The diameter of hole is about 0.6 inch (1.6 centimeters). The Sheepbed mudstone is interpreted to represent an ancient lake. It preserves evidence of an environment that would have been suited to support microbes that get their energy by eating chemicals in rocks. This wet environment was characterized by neutral pH, low salinity, and variable oxidation of iron- and sulfur-containing minerals. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen and phosphorus were measured directly as key elements for supporting possible life. These results highlight the biological viability of fluvial-lacustrine environments (streams and lakes) in the history of Mars after the earliest era of the Martian past, called the Noachian Era. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, developed, built and operates MAHLI. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project and the mission's Curiosity rover for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed and assembled at JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.
Date	25 January 2014, 16:38:33
Source	http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA17594.jpg
Author	NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Licensing

	This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
	Warnings: Use of NASA logos, insignia and emblems is restricted per U.S. law 14 CFR 1221. The NASA website hosts a large number of images from the Soviet/Russian space agency, and other non-American space agencies. These are not necessarily in the public domain. Materials based on Hubble Space Telescope data may be copyrighted if they are not explicitly produced by the STScI.[1] See also {{PD-Hubble}} and {{Cc-Hubble}}. The SOHO (ESA & NASA) joint project implies that all materials created by its probe are copyrighted and require permission for commercial non-educational use. [2] Images featured on the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) web site may be copyrighted. [3] The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) site has been known to host copyrighted content. Its photo gallery FAQ states that all of the images in the photo gallery are in the public domain "Unless otherwise noted."