Even on Mars, the Curiosity rover needs to wash its hands
Here on Earth, we’re all taking care to wash our hands for at least 20 seconds. But cleanliness is not only important on this planet — it’s important for the Curiosity rover on Mars as well. Curiosity is gathering samples from across the red planet as it travels up the massiveMount Sharp. The rover drills into the bedrock, scoops up bits of rock and soil, and then transfers this sample to one of its two analysis instruments on board: the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite, which analyzes the sample for the presence of organic compounds and gases, or the Chemical and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument, a spectrometer which measures the levels of minerals in the sample....