The second attempt is charming: NASA’s perseverance pierces the rock of Mars

Like sustainability the rover dug into a rock on Wednesday to collect a sample of the Mars Jezero crater, Justin Simon, a NASA planetary scientist at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, felt nervous and excited. He has the honor of acting as a “sample shepherd,” driving an effort millions of miles away, but the pressure goes on. “These samples will also allow us to understand the geology of the crater, but probably also minerals related to the history of its water,” he said yesterday.

But first, the vehicle had to catch a piece of rock in a test-sized container. He had an early attempt in early August come empty. That first stone, nicknamed “Roubion,” turned to dust when the drill was drilled, and none of those parts went into the container.

Simon can breathe now. Perseverance’s second attempt, with different rocks, seems to have successfully brought out the core of Mars, which is slightly thicker than a pencil.

“That image of the core that looked spectacular, the cylinder that looked wonderful, was clearly broken. It looks very geologically interesting, something that future scientists will work to their liking,” says Ken Farley, Caltech geochemist and NASA Perseverance mission scientist at Pasadena, California. Directed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

But the analysis of the new sample will take some time, as NASA scientists have not been able to get clear photos due to low lighting conditions, which makes it difficult to interpret the images. To add more drama to the scientists, when Perseverance performed the “swallow” procedure — shaking the sample to make sure the tube wasn’t overfilled, which would block it when the system was stored — an image appeared in the tube of an empty sample. (Sure they got the sample, but they will try to get more pictures in the next few days with better light.)

The first drilling attempt for sustainability, which essentially crushed the sample, was not a complete failure, as it provided evidence suggesting that the rock that had flowed into the lake crater billions of years ago had become extinct. “It’s always been possible for this lake to be a transient event, maybe a comet, rich in water, hit Mars and made the lakes, and then it boiled or froze in ten years. But that wouldn’t affect the weather we’ll see,” Farley said last week. in an early interview.

Since this rock was dusty, scientists led the pilot to a new area in search of another type of rock in the sample. Invention crawling before the helicopter. Persistence was somewhat to the west, where on a mountain line the researchers found a larger rock-like rock, nicknamed “Rochette,” and it seemed that the disintegration was less when the rover spread its tools. “It looks like a rock that would slam into the ground if thrown. A good, healthy rock, ”Farley said.

Prior to each sampling attempt, Perseverance makes a reconnaissance by taking a series of photographs of a rock that is a candidate. He also gave a performance last weekend abrasion test Rochette was as durable as it tasted to see. The vehicle is equipped with a rotary drill (rotary drill) with a rotary drill (additional drills) that rotates and hammers the stones. This tool helps to clean the dust and chips that filter the outer layer. According to Farley, the abrasion was a huge success, so the scientists decided to continue taking the sample. Persistence extended the 7-foot-long robotic arm, rolled the drill, and carefully pulled out a sample of the hill. He then rotated the “hand” of his arm so that he could inspect the sample tube.