NASA set to test Curiosity Mars rover's robotic arm

06.09.2012
After a month on the surface of Mars, has driven more than the length of a football field and has started gearing for some real scientific work.

"We've been on the surface of Mars for about a month and Curiosity continues to surprise us with how well she's doing with everything we've asked off her," said Mike Watkins, a mission systems manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). "Now that , we've reached a point where we want to do a more detailed check of the arm and the tools on it."

Tracks from the first drives of the Curiosity rover are visible in this image captured by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The rover is seen where the tracks end. The image's color has been enhanced to show the surface details better. (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)

During a press conference Thursday, NASA showed off images of the tracks left by Curiosity after its first trek of 358 feet, which leaves it some 269 feet from the landing site.

Curiosity is now heading toward Glenelg, an area of scientific interest because of three different types of terrain that meet there.

At this point, though, the rover is spending about a week in one spot so scientists can run detailed tests of .