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- NASA’s Perseverance rover will collect its first Martian rock sample within two weeks, the agency said.
- The rover’s 7-foot robotic arm will cut out a chalk-sized rock sample with a laser.
- The mission will help NASA search for signs of ancient life on Mars, the agency said.
NASA said on Wednesday that its Perseverance rover was preparing to collect its first Martian rock sample to help scientists look for signs of ancient life.
Since the Martian rover landed on the Red Planet in February, it has explored the Martian surface, photographed its surroundings, and assisted with test flights of the Ingenuity helicopter.
In June, Perseverance began its first scientific mission, setting off on a five-kilometer journey to reach Jezero Crater. Now that it’s here, the rover will retrieve its very first Martian rock sample with its 7-foot robotic arm, NASA said in a statement.
Instruments at the end of Perseverance’s robotic arm will scan the Martian surface where it plans to extract rock, NASA said. The arm will scrape the top layers of rock and dust to expose an unaltered surface, the space agency added.
One of the instruments will shoot a laser at the surface to cut out a piece of rock, according to NASA. The rover will stop for a Martian day to recharge its batteries for the next day, NASA said.
Perseverance will then remove a rock sample the size of chalk and put it in a sealed tube, NASA said. A spacecraft will later pick up the tube and bring it back to Earth for scientific observation, the agency said.
The rock-collecting mission, which will begin in the next two weeks, will take Perseverance 11 days, NASA said.
“While the rocks in this geologic unit are not excellent time capsules for organics, we believe they have been around since the formation of Jezero Crater and are incredibly valuable in filling gaps in our geologic understanding. from this region, ”said Ken Farley, Project Scientist Perseverance. in the statement.
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