NASA’s Perseverance has managed to extract and securely store its second Martian rock sample. The new sample was collected just days after the first successful attempt. NASA’s JPL that oversees the Mars missions shared the news via a tweet.
“Two for two: I have successfully processed and stored my second sample of Mars, thus bringing my total to two Martian rock cores in one week,” reads a post on the Perseverance Twitter handle. The post also shows images of the drilled rock and collection tube with the material inside.
Success after a failed sample collection attempt
This feat indicates that JPL has finally figured out the rover’s sample-collection process after a failed effort in August when the loose consistency of the gathered material caused the sample to slip from the collection tube.
Later, the JPL team directed the rover to another rock with a more stable structure. Both stored samples have been extracted from this rock, with the rover drilling out pieces about of a pencil before storing them in titanium tubes.
The rover will continue to drill material from different rocks during its exploration of Jezero Crater. While Perseverance will use its instruments to examine samples, a later mission will be launched to transport the samples back to Earth so scientists can use more powerful technologies to discover more about Mars and its history.
Chopper buddy adding immense value
“Using the most sophisticated science instruments on Earth, we expect jaw-dropping discoveries across a broad set of science areas, including an exploration into the question of whether life once existed on Mars,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science.
The Perseverance rover landed on Mars in February 2021 and since then has been exploring the Martian surface, sending back images and audio, as well as preparing for its sample collections. Unlike the space agency’s previous missions, Perseverance brought along a chopper buddy called Ingenuity, which became the first aircraft to take a controlled flight on another planet. The mini helicopter was sent as a test device to see if rotorcraft could help future rovers plan their routes more efficiently and safely.
