NASA Perseverance rover retrieves rock samples on Mars in second drill bid

The Perseverance rover of the US space agency appears to have obtained a rock sample on Mars on the second attempt.  The drill on the robot produced a clean hole in a hefty stone dubbed "Rochette."  New photographs show a rock core being safely taken up. An earlier attempt last month resulted in the sample dissolving to dust.

Nasa's Mars rover makes drill sample bid

If Perseverance is successful this time, it will be the first time a rock section has been gathered on another planet with the intention of returning to Earth. The rover's mission is to collect more than a dozen cores over the next year or so, which will be returned to Earth by a combined US-European operation later this decade.

In February, NASA's Perseverance robot arrived in Mars' Jezero Crater. The deep, 45km-wide depression appears to have hosted a lake billions of years ago, about 20 degrees north of the planet's equator. As a result, scientists believe Jezero's sediments may contain indications of ancient microbial life if biology ever flourished on Mars. The robot has driven more than 2 kilometres from its landing spot to a slightly higher ridge known as the Citadelle. Rochette was chosen as the target for the latest drilling attempt by the Perseverance team.

New images appeared 

The robot has a caching system that will place a finger-sized core of rock-cut by the drill in a titanium tube.  However, before sealing this cylinder, the rover will image its contents. It was at this point, in early August, during the first sampling effort, that Perseverance scientists realised they had nothing in the tube; the coring mechanism had fractured the rock into powder, which had then fallen back on the ground around the drill hole.

The mission team will be encouraged, however, by the first images downlinked by Perseverance on Thursday, which clearly showed rocky debris from Rochette in the corer head near the cylinder's opening, said reports. The material must now be fully processed within the rover's belly. Perseverance is still being followed by its mini-helicopter, Ingenuity. The drone, which was first sent to Mars as a technology demonstration, is now frequently used to scout the terrain ahead of the rover. Ingenuity has flown a total of 12 times.

Picture Credit: Unsplash