‘PERFECT’ MARS ROCK SAMPLE DRILLED FROM THE RED PLANET
Following a failed first attempt,
NASA’S Perseverance rover has successfully drilled and captured a perfect rock core from the Red Planet. This takes scientists a step closer to their goal of someday returning the rock sample to Earth in order to study it for signs of ancient microbial life.
Perseverance made its latest drill attempt on 1 September after selecting a large, thick-looking rock that NASA researchers nicknamed ‘Rochette’. The boulder sits on a ridge overlooking the nearby floor of Jezero crater, where it has endured the elements of Mars for potentially millions of years.
That endurance is exactly what the team was looking for; the rover’s first attempt to collect a rock core several weeks ago ended in disappointment, as the rock sample proved too crumbly and slipped from the rover’s grasp. But new images of the Rochette drilling operation show that this time around there were no surprising disappointments.
Perseverance will store the sample, which is about as thick as a pencil, in its belly for the duration of its mission exploring the dried-up ruins of ancient rivers in Jezero crater. But one day, perhaps a decade or so from now, Perseverance will place all of its samples onto the Martian floor, where another as-yet-unbuilt rover will come along to shepherd them to a small rocket that will bring them to Earth.