NASA's Mars rover has taken another smallstep for robot-kind.
Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California say the roverCuriosity flexed its robotic arm Monday for the first time since before itsNovember launch.
They say they'll now spend weeks testing and calibrating the 7-foot(2.1-meter)-long arm and its extensive tool kit — which includes a drill, ascoop, a spectrometer and a camera, in preparation for collecting its firstsoil samples and attempting to learn whether the Martian environment wasfavorable for microbial life
On Monday engineers unfurled the arm, extended it forward using all five of itsjoints, then stowed it again.
The test is part of a full health checkup Curiosity has been undergoing sincelanding in an ancient crater on the red planet Aug. 5.