NASA’s Curiosity Rover drilled its first hole Wednesday on the foothills of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain on Mars designated as the primary landing site for the machine’s $2.5 billion mission.

The rover drilled approximately 2.6 inches (6.7 centimeters) deep into the basal layer of the mountain to collect a powdered-rock sample, which is currently being held in the sample-handling mechanism of the rover’s arm, according to a recent statement from NASA.

“This drilling target is at the lowest part of the base layer of the mountain, and from here we plan to examine the higher, younger layers exposed in the nearby hills,” said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity Deputy Project Scientist of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. “This first look at rocks we believe to underlie Mount Sharp is exciting because it will begin to form a picture of the environment at the time the mountain formed, and what led to its growth.”

According to the statement, Curiosity landed on Mars in August 2012 and spent a majority of its first year studying the Yellowknife Bay area, an area close to the landing site in the opposite direction. Curiosity drove more than five miles (eight kilometers) from Yellowknife Bay to Mount Sharp, taking 15 months for the journey with several stops along the way for scientific observation.

“We’re putting on the brakes to study this amazing mountain,” said Jennifer Trosper, Curiosity Deputy Project Manager of JPL. “Curiosity flew hundreds of millions of miles to do this.”

NASA reports that the next step for Curiosity is to transport the powdered-rock sample into a scoop on the rover’s arm, which can determine if the powder is safe enough for delivery into Curiosity’s internal laboratory instruments. This would allow for analysis of the rock to classify its chemistry and mineralogy.