"This is probably the only definitely habitable environment that we've described and recorded, " said Paul Mahaffy, principal investigator for Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars investigation at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

CNN: NASA: Yes, Mars could have hosted life

Well, after scooping up some loose sand, Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite and the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instruments found a menagerie of chemicals, including sulfur, chlorine, and traces of carbon-based materials.

ENGADGET: NASA Curiosity rover digs Mars, finds sulfur, chlorine and organic traces of unknown origin

So, Scout got upgraded from an 8-bit processor to a 32-bit unit based on Micrium, the operation system being used by NASA's Curiosity Rover for sample analysis on Mars.

ENGADGET

The drill will produce a powdered sample that can be put in the robot's on-board laboratories for analysis.

BBC: Curiosity Mars rover deploys its rock brush