NASA rover Curiosity gets first scoop on Mars

05.10.2012
NASA's is set to begin a very busy weekend.

The rover is slated to scoop up its first sample of Martian soil on Saturday, NASA reported.

Curiosity on Wednesday came across a sandy area that NASA scientists decided would be a good spot for the rover to stop and study. The area has been dubbed "Rocknest."

"We now have reached an important phase that will get the first solid samples into the analytical instruments in about two weeks," said Curiosity's mission manager Michael Watkins. "Curiosity has been so well-behaved that we have made great progress during the first two months of the mission."

To get ready for its first scoops, one of the the rover's wheels scuffed the soil in Rocknest to expose fresh material, NASA reported.

This latest step in Curiosity's mission comes on the heels of that the rover had found evidence of a "vigorous" thousand-year water flow on the surface of Mars.