See annotated version NASA's Curiosity Mars rover documented
itself in the context of its work site, an area called "Rocknest
Wind Drift," on the 84th Martian day, or sol, of its mission
(Oct. 31, 2012). The rover worked at this location from Sol 56
(Oct. 2, 2012) to Sol 100 (Nov. 16, 2012). The drift consists of
sand trapped on the downwind side of a group of dark cobbles the
team named Rocknest. This mosaic of 55 images from the Mars Hand
Lens Imager (MAHLI) shows the first four of five places from
which the rover's scoop obtained sand to clean the sample
handling and processing system. The scooped material was
ultimately delivered to the Chemistry and Mineralogy Experiment
(CheMin) and the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) laboratory
instruments housed inside the rover's body. The annotated
version of this figure shows the location of a scoop taken at a
later date -- the fifth and final scoop, and the only one that
provided grains delivered to SAM. Before scooping, the rover
team put an approximately 20-inch-w