How NASA repairs its rovers on Mars, without ever touching them

NASA’s Curiosity Rover landed on Mars in 2012, and people around the world cheered. Humans have yet to land on Mars, and the rover lets scientists run experiments, such as testing soil and rock samples for evidence of liquid water, or chemicals that could point to signs of life.

But what happens when the $2 billion lab on wheels runs into problems? How do engineers on Earth fix the rover from millions of miles away?

In 2016, Curiosity’s drill, the key instrument to collecting those rock samples, stopped working.

This is how the drill works: A drill bit makes holes that are a little smaller than a dime, and two prongs hold the rock or whatever it is Curiosity is drilling into, to keep it steady.