NASA has announced its Curiosity Mars Rover has regained the full use of its robotic arm put out of action a few weeks ago by a minute and transient short circuit.

Curiosity is using its repaired robotic arm to transfer rock powder from its drill to its Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (ChemMin). This is the same job Curiosity was doing when the short occurred on Feb. 27.

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The rover finished drilling at a rock target with the odd name of "Telegraph Peak". This is the third rock Curiosity drilled during the six months it's spent traveling and drilling at the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop on Mount Sharp.

Curiosity's next task will be to climb further up Mount Sharp to a feature named "Artist's Drive". Here, mission scientists hope to learn if past Martian conditions once hospitable to life found lower down on the slopes of Mount Sharp are present at higher altitudes. To get to Artist's Drive, Curiosity is now traveling towards a rock outcrop known as "Garden City".

The short circuit occurred while the rover was using the percussion action of its drill to shake sample rock powder from the drill to a sample collecting device on the arm. Curiosity's fault protection systems automatically shut down the robotic arm.

Tests conducted by the rover team concluded the most likely cause was a transient short circuit in the motor for the drill's percussion action. Tests conducted over the last few days reproduced the short was only once. The short lasted less than one-hundredth of a second and didn't stop the motor.

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.

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