PHOTOS: Mars rover completes first drill on Mars

NASA's Curiosity rover used its hammering, rotating drill Friday to extract the first powdery samples from within fine-grained sedimentary bedrock, giving scientists their first chance to analyze material from inside a rock on Mars.

These images beamed back to Earth from Curiosity show the hole bored into a slab of rock on Mars, an animation of the drill activity, context of the drill area, and a photo of the rover's rotating drill bit.

See our full story for more information on the drill.

See a larger image. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

See a larger image. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP/LPGNantes/CNRS