This handout image provided by NASA, taken Sept. 28, 2012, is a mosaic of images taken by the telephoto right-eye camera of the Mast Camera before the rover arrived at Rocknest. (AP Photo/NASA)
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Updated: Tuesday, 09 Oct 2012, 7:20 AM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 09 Oct 2012, 7:20 AM EDT
LOS ANGELES (AP) — NASA officials say the Curiosity rover has made its first scoop of the surface of planet Mars and has detected a bright object on the ground.
Officials said in a news release Monday that they suspect the object might be a part of the six-wheeled rover, but they won't sample or scoop anymore until they figure out what it is.
The Curiosity has already beamed back pictures of bedrock that suggest a fast-moving stream once flowed on the planet.
The rover landed Aug. 5 and is on a two-year, $2.5 billion mission to study whether microbial life could have existed on Mars in the past.
Today's Mars is a frozen desert, but previous geological studies suggest it was once warmer and wetter.
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