NASA assembles response team after Perseverance Rover’s first Mars sampling attempt fails

The rover continues to explore Jezero Crater as the team assesses its recent activities.

Data sent to Earth by NasaThe Perseverance rover after its first attempt to take a rock sample on March and sealing it in a sample tube indicates that no rock was collected during the initial sampling activity.

The rover carries 43 titanium sample tubes and explores the Jezero crater, where it will collect rock and regolith (shattered rock and dust) samples for future analysis on Earth.

“While this is not the ‘knockout’ we were hoping for, there is always risk to innovate,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Missions Directorate in Washington. “I have no doubts that we have the right team working on this, and we will persevere towards a solution to ensure future success. “

Perseverance’s sampling and caching system uses a hollow drill and hammer drill at the end of its 2-meter-long robotic arm to extract samples. The rover’s telemetry indicates that on its first attempt at coring, the drill bit and trephine were engaged as intended, and after coring, the sample tube was processed as intended.

“The sampling process is self-sustaining from start to finish,” said Jessica Samuels, surface mission manager for Perseverance at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “One of the steps that occurs after placing a probe in the collection tube is to measure the volume of the sample. The probe did not meet the expected resistance that would be there if a sample was inside the tube.

The Perseverance mission brings together an intervention team to analyze the data. A first step will be to use the WATSON Imager (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and Engineering) – located at the end of the robotic arm – to take close-up photos of the borehole. Once the team has a better understanding of what happened, they will be able to determine when to plan for the next sample collection attempt.

“The initial idea is that the empty tube is more likely due to the rock target not reacting as we expected during coring, and less likely to a hardware problem with the sampling and setting system. cache, ”said Jennifer Trosper, Project Manager for Perseverance at JPL. “Over the next few days, the team will be spending more time analyzing the data we have and acquiring additional diagnostic data to help understand the root cause of the empty tube.”

Previous NASA missions to Mars have also encountered surprising properties of rocks and regoliths during sample collection and other activities. In 2008, the Phoenix mission sampled “sticky” soil that was difficult to move in on-board scientific instruments, which resulted in multiple tests before being successful. Curiosity drilled through rocks that turned out to be harder and more brittle than expected. More recently, the InSight lander’s thermal probe, known as the “mole,” failed to penetrate the Martian surface as expected.

“I’ve been on all of the Martian rover’s missions from the start, and this planet is still teaching us what we don’t know about it,” Trosper said. “One thing I have found is that it is not uncommon to have complications with complex activities for the first time.”

First scientific campaign

Perseverance is currently exploring two geologic units containing the deepest and oldest layers of exposed bedrock from Jezero Crater and other intriguing geologic features. The first unit, called “Crater Floor Fractured Rough,” is Jezero’s floor. The adjacent unit, named “Séítah” (which means “in the middle of the sand” in the Navajo language), also owns the bedrock of Mars and is also home to ridges, rock layers and sand dunes.

Recently, the Perseverance science team began using color images of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter to help spot areas of potential scientific interest and research potential dangers. Ingenuity completed its 11th flight on Wednesday Aug. 4, traveling approximately 1,250 feet (380 meters) downstream from its current location in order to provide the aerial reconnaissance project for the southern Séítah region.

The rover’s initial scientific foray, which spans hundreds of soils (or Martian days), will be over when Perseverance returns to its landing site. At this point, Perseverance will have traveled between 1.6 and 3.1 miles (2.5 and 5 kilometers) and may have filled up to eight of its sample tubes.

Next, Perseverance will travel north, then west, to the location of its second scientific campaign: the Jezero Crater Delta region. The delta is the fan-shaped remnant of the confluence of an ancient river and lake in the Jezero crater. The region can be particularly rich in carbonate minerals. On Earth, these minerals can preserve fossilized signs of ancient microscopic life and are associated with biological processes.

Learn more about the mission

A key focus of Perseverance’s mission to Mars is astrobiology, including looking for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s past geology and climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples on the surface and return them to Earth for further analysis.

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

JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., Built and manages the operations of the Perseverance rover.