For the past five months, NASA's Curiosity rover has been studying and inspecting the base of Mount Sharp on Mars.

Its latest mission obtained an important sample from the mountain using a unique drilling technique. The sample came from a specific rock called Mojave 2 that apparently holds clues about the ancient Martian environmental.

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Previously, Curiosity attempted to get samples from Mojave 2 but ended up breaking the sample, which made it impossible to deliver it to the rover's analytical scientific instruments.

What made the mission team determined to find the presence of water on Mars is mainly due to the discovery of a large amount of jarosite, a sulfate mineral that builds up in acidic environments. This site seems to expose acidic conditions as opposed to others found in different Martian drilling sites.

NASA scientists are still mulling if this acidic water was more evident at the Mojave 2 due to past environmental conditions. Did sediment build-up occurring over time form the mountain or is it that acidic water immersed the whole site?

The success in obtaining this new sample can be attributed to a new and gentler drilling method, according to John Michael Morookian from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. He says this is the first time that low percussion drilling tools were used on Mars to conserve energy.

Curiosity rover originally used a drill consisting of a hammer and a chisel. The rate of the drilling was adjusted so as not to hammer too hard on rocks.

Scientists, however, found out that when Curiosity obtains rock samples, it uses so much force it shatters the rocks. This new algorithm uses a slow, steady pace at a low percussion level. Curiosity spent 10 minutes drilling some 2.6 inches into the soft Mojave 2 rock.

After this successful mission, the rover will go on to collect other samples from other sites located at the mountain base before it traverses higher into Mount Sharp.

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