A Hole in 'Tennessee'

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity took the images that make up this mosaic with its microscopic imager on sol 139 (June 14, 2004). The target is a rock called "Tennessee," which was drilled into by the rover's rock abrasion tool. This particular grind is the deepest performed so far during the mission. The hole is 8.12 millimeters (0.32 inches) deep and took two hours and four minutes to create. The previous record was a 7.23-millimeter-deep (0.28-inch-deep) hole dug on sol 86 (April 21, 2004) on the feature dubbed "Pilbara," located in Meridiani's "Fram Crater."