It is using its mast-mounted colour cameras and laser spectrometer, together with its arm-held "hand lens" camera and X-ray spectrometer, to try to find the best drill candidate.

BBC: Curiosity Mars rover deploys its rock brush

According to a leaked parliamentary report, several cadets on the Gorch Fock were reluctant to climb the mast in November following the death of a 25-year-old student - known only as Sarah S - during a stop-over in Salvador de Bahia in Brazil.

BBC: Germany investigates alleged Gorch Fock mutiny

The mission -- called MAST (for Multi-Application Survivable Tether) -- is scheduled to begin April 17th with a payload launch on a Dnepr rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, after which the Washington state-based Tethers Unlimited's two anchor sats (less-cleverly dubbed Ted and Ralph -- um, hello, Penny and Brain...) will gradually separate until they've pulled the kilometer-long line taut.

ENGADGET: Inspector Gadget tackles 'The Case of the Experimental Space Tether'

In this phase mast cells - which are responsible for causing allergies - release histamine and other molecules such as chemokines.

BBC: NEWS | Health | Eyelid protein is key to allergy