What's inside the first sample of rock powder collected from Mars by the Curiosity rover? Several scientists from NASA will give a press conference at 1 p.m. ET to discuss the findings from the Curiosity rover.
NASA officials said the Tuesday press conference will "discuss the Curiosity rover's analysis of the first sample of rock powder ever collected on Mars."
A live stream to the event can be found here:
Live video from your Android device on Ustream
Curiosity drilled into a Mars rock for the first time on Feb. 8 using a percussive drill tool mounted to its robotic arm. The rover drilled a 2.5-inch hole into a flat Mars rock called "John Klein," named after a NASA Curiosity rover project manager who died in 2011.
The first sample drilling on Mars revealed an odd, gray interior of Martian rock that stood out in stark contrast to the rust-hewed orange-red of the planet's surface. Curiosity scooped up a sample of the gray rock powder and placed it inside two onboard labs.
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity landed on the Red Planet on Aug. 5 to begin a two-year primary mission aimed at determining if the planet is now, or could ever have been, capable of supporting primitive life. The $2.5 billion Curiosity is about the size of a car, making it the largest rover ever to explore Mars. It carries 10 different science instruments to study the Red Planet in unprecedented detail.
