NASA's Mars rover Curiosity marks 2,000th day on red planet

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has now marked 2,000 days on the red planet.

That's 2,000 days by Martian standards. A Martian sol, or solar day, is equivalent to 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds. So 2,000 days on Mars equal 2,055 days here on Earth.

Either way, it's a big milestone this week for scientists eager for Curiosity to begin drilling again, this time into potentially clay-rich rocks on the slopes of Mount Sharp.

The six-wheeled rover has been exploring Mars since 2012. Altogether, it's traveled 11.6 miles (18.7 kilometers).

Flight controllers are testing a new drilling method. Curiosity's drill stopped working properly in 2016, and so engineers devised another way to bore into Martian rocks and get the pulverized rock samples into the rover's lab instruments.