NASA’s Perseverance Rover May Have Successfully Collected Its First Mars Rock

According to NASA, preliminary images of the rock show an intact sample present in the tube. However, later images were inconclusive due to poor sunlight conditions.

NASA has said it is waiting for more photos before declaring the success, although “the team is confident the sample is in the tube”.

Adam Steltzner, chief engineer of the Persistence rover, called it a perfect core sample. “Be patient, little sample, your journey is about to begin,” he said.

“I’ve never been more happy than seeing a hole in the rock,” Stelzner further tweeted.

A month ago, the firmament penetrated a very soft rock, and the sample broke and was not found in the titanium tube. NS Nomad Driven half a mile to a better location to try again.

Coring on September 1 is the second time Persistence has employed its sampling and caching system since landing at Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021, NASA said in a press release.

Mars’ Jezero Crater is believed to have been home to a lush lakeside and river delta billions of years ago.

NASA Perseverance Mission to Mars

Perseverance’s mission to Mars is astrobiology, which involves the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, paving the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and will be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.

Subsequent NASA missions will send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes the Artemis mission to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.