Mars sample return
Like its predecessor Curiosity, Perseverance has an onboard chemical laboratory to analyse rock samples as it goes along. But it has a new trick up its sleeve as well. It can seal and store some of the samples so they can subsequently be studied back on Earth. The idea is that the rover will leave these samples at strategic points, where they will remain for several years until they are collected by another rover on a future mission. This rover will blast the samples into Mars orbit, where they will be passed to another spacecraft for return to Earth.