The malfunctioning robot arm of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover apparently isn't that serious a problem and will go back to work later this week.

Before doing this, however, engineers will conduct more tests to learn more about a short circuit that disabled the rover's arm before moving the  arm from its current position.

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And as the robotic arm resumes drilling, NASA scientists will continue to analyze what appears to be an off-and-on short circuit in the rover's drill. Curiosity's fault protection systems shut down the drill on Feb. 27.

The drill uses both rotation and hammering to drill into Martian rocks. The rover then collects samples of pulverized rock powder for analysis by scientific instruments inside it.

"The most likely cause is an intermittent short in the percussion mechanism of the drill. After further analysis to confirm that diagnosis, we will be analyzing how to adjust for that in future drilling," said Curiosity Project Manager Jim Erickson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

After detecting the short circuit, the mission team avoided moving the robotic arm for several days and driving the rover while engineers did diagnostic tests to determine the cause of the glitch. Erickson said diagnostic testing has been productive in narrowing the possible sources of the transient short circuit.

Science observations using instruments on the rover's mast have continued, however, and environmental monitoring by its weather station.

NASA said the short on Feb. 27 occurred when Curiosity was transferring rock powder from the grooves of its drill into a mechanism that separates and portions the powder. The rover used the percussion action of its drill to shake the powder loose during this operation.

Engineers discovered the apparent short circuit occurred for less than one-hundredth of a second but that was enough to trigger the rover's fault protection systems.