Joel Hurowitz works for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. He told reporters that the Curiosity team was excited to see that the material was gray, not red -- the color normally linked to the Martian surface.

“It’s pretty exciting to us that you just sort of brush beneath this surface veneer and the rocks are a completely different color. So, we’re sort of seeing a new coloration for Mars here, and it’s an exciting one to us.”

The color orange is often a sign of oxidized iron. American scientists say oxidation destroys organic material. They say the gray coloring of the powdered rock could mean organic compounds are better-protected.

That is the sound of Curiosity’s test double, cutting a rock here on Earth. The test double is an exact copy of the vehicle on Mars.

Louise Jandura is the sample system chief engineer for Curiosity. She has been working on the project for nearly eight years. She spoke to reporters last month. She described the successes of Curiosity as historic -- both for the space program and the United States.

“This is the first time any robot, fixed or mobile, has drilled into a rock to collect a sample on Mars. In fact, this is the first time any rover has drilled into a rock to collect a sample anywhere but on Earth.”

Louise Jandura described Curiosity’s drilling equipment as a major step forward.

“It allows us to go beyond the surface layer of the rock, unlocking a kind of ‘time capsule of evidence’ about the state of Mars, going back three or four billion years.”