Perseverance Finally Got 'Perfect' Rock Sample After Failing In Their First Attemp
Update: 2021-09-03 18:30 IST
The Martian boulder "Rochette" now has a perfect drill-hole imprinted in its ancient side. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
NASA's Perseverance rover has efficiently drilled and obtained a flawless rock core from Mars, following a disastrous first effort last month.
According to NASA, this brings scientists another inch ahead to their objective of returning the rock sample to Earth in the future to investigate it for traces of ancient microbial life.
After identifying a huge, thick-looking rock nicknamed 'Rochette' by NASA researchers, the company launched its latest drill operation on Wednesday, September 1.
The rock is perched on a ridge observing the neighbouring bottom of Jezero crater, where it has likely spent millions of years enduring the harsh Martian conditions. The Diligence crew was hoping for endurance after the rover's first effort to harvest a rock core many weeks ago failed because the rock sample was too brittle and literally vanished from the rover's hands.
According to Kenneth A. Farley, a professor of geochemistry at the California Institute of Technology and the project scientist for Perseverance said that people can identify a magnificent rock core in the rover's collection tube.
The sample, which is about the thickness of a pencil, will be saved by persistence. Investigating the dried-up ruins of historical rivers in Jezero crater for the remainder of its operation.
Itwill deposit all of its findings on the Martian surface in a decade or two, where they will be shepherded to a small rocket by another, as-yet-unbuilt rover.
The rocket will send the samples to Earth, where scientists will be able to examine them in greater detail than Perseverance did.
Meanwhile, the return voyage is unlikely to happen until the 2030s at the earliest. Meanwhile, a victorious Percy will continue to chug down the Red Planet, one rock sample heavier than before.