{"id":2845,"date":"2021-09-20T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=2845"},"modified":"2021-09-07T07:45:43","modified_gmt":"2021-09-07T07:45:43","slug":"the-perseverance-rover-obtained-pristine-martian-rock-in-a-landmark-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/the-perseverance-rover-obtained-pristine-martian-rock-in-a-landmark-first\/","title":{"rendered":"The Perseverance Rover Obtained Pristine Martian Rock In a Landmark First"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Perseverance<\/em> rover is hard at work inside Jezero crater on the surface of Mars, some 395 million kilometers (245 million miles) away from Earth, studying the Red Planet in ways we had never been able to accomplish before. After its launch in July of 2020 and its landing just a few months back last February, the rover, along with its pioneering companion drone Ingenuity<\/em><\/a>, has been exploring the rusty red surface of the planet, seeking areas programmed in its telemetry to begin its study of the planet. One of its targets is to obtain rock core samples<\/em> of the Martian surface\u2014part of the Mars Sample Return program<\/em>\u2014to be sent back to Earth through future missions years down the line. Luckily for us, \u201cPercy\u201d managed to successfully drill into Martian surface rock and obtain a core sample; this was the second time around, though, and it wasn\u2019t so successful the first time around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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urface, shown here encased inside a titanium sample collection tube. The sample will be sealed, and will be picked up by future Mars missions to be sent back to Earth. (NASA\/JPL-Caltech, 2021) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Around the 5th of August in 2021, Percy attempted its first sample collection using its coring equipment. This sampling would be humanity\u2019s first chance at obtaining untarnished Martian rock, which makes this mission imperative. The rover\u2019s drill equipment and sample containment mechanism was designed to be operated from hundreds of millions of kilometers away, and was analogous to core sampling methods geologists use today. (One of these missions became newsworthy just a few months back for drilling what was the deepest hole in the ocean at the time.) The equipment attached to the rover for this purpose has been tested several times back here on Earth to check and double-check for errors and mishaps; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), at the time, seemed confident that Percy would be successful. Of course, now that we have the benefit of hindsight, we know that their hopes would end up being dashed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signals from the rover appeared to have recognized that a sample was definitely obtained and sealed; however, once the rover\u2019s machines attempted to measure the volume of the material obtained, they got no result. The scientists scratched their heads and peeked inside the sample tube using one of Percy\u2019s cameras, and they found nothing but dust inside the tube. As it turns out, we don\u2019t really know the Red Planet as much as we think we do; the Martian site they sent Percy to unexpectedly had pretty crumbly rocks, and the rover\u2019s drill just ground the rock to bits instead of carving out a piece of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, a month later, Percy finally manages to obtain a sample properly. After moving the rover to a new site (still within Jezero crater), Percy seemed to have properly obtained a rock sample this time. The rock core sample was only slightly thicker than a standard pencil, and like the first time around, was housed in a titanium tube, to be obtained and sent back to Earth through future missions to Mars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A scientist working on Perseverance<\/em> holds Sample Tube 266, shown here before it was sent off to Mars aboard the rover. This very tube now contains the very first core sample of pristine Martian rock ever obtained. (NASA\/JPL-Caltech, 2021) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson: \u201cNASA has a history of setting ambitious goals and then accomplishing them, reflecting our nation\u2019s commitment to discovery and innovation. This is a momentous achievement and I can\u2019t wait to see the incredible discoveries produced by Perseverance and our team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NASA headquarters\u2019 associate administrator for science Thomas Zurbuchen added that this was \u201ctruly a historic moment,\u201d mentioning that the event was as momentous as the sampling of lunar soil attempted before from the Apollo missions, as they \u201cwill be doing the same with the samples Perseverance collects as part of our Mars Sample Return<\/em> program.\u201d He continued: \u201cUsing the most sophisticated science instruments on Earth, we expect jaw-dropping discoveries across a broad set of science areas, including exploration into the question of whether life once existed on Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Percy will continue to collect more rock core samples as it progresses through its mission path. As part of the Mars Sample Return program, these samples will be obtained in the future through a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), where a mission is being planned to collect these samples then return them to Earth for study\u2014another potential historic first for humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about the Perseverance rover, check out this video revealing just what went on behind the scenes during its launch last year<\/a>. You can also read more on how Percy created oxygen on Mars through MOXIE, one of its onboard instruments<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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