The team initially tried vibrating the drill to shake off the rock, but saw no change. On April 29, they tried reorienting Curiosity's robotic arm and vibrating the drill again, but the rock stayed attached. On May 1, the team tried again, tilting the drill more, rotating and vibrating the drill, and spinning the drill bit; the rock came off on the first round, fracturing as it hit the ground.
6 pounds (13 kilograms). The imagery showing the entire process was captured by the black-and-white hazard cameras on the front of Curiosity's chassis and by navigation cameras on its mast. Curiosity was built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California.
JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program portfolio.