Perseverance successfully collects first rock sample on Mars – IT Pro – News

NASA’s Mars probe has successfully collected a sample of the Martian rock. The space agency shares a photo with an entire sample tube. However, due to poor lighting in the second image, it is unclear whether the sample is still in the tube.

The first image of the sample tube shows how the tube in the hollow drill bit is filled with Martian rock. NASA Arrow Also a photo of the rock from which Perseverance extracted a sample. The space agency says it’s a stone the size of a suitcase. The sample is slightly thicker than a pencil.

After collecting the sample, I began to persevere in percussion to swallowThe procedure, in which the drill and tube are vibrated five times for one second. With these vibrations, NASA wants to make sure that the end of the tube no longer has any leftover material. This procedure may also cause the sample to sink into the tube.

After this procedure, NASA took another picture with its Mastcam-Z stereo zoom cameras. However, in this image, it is no longer possible to tell whether the sample is still in the tube or not, due to poor lighting. NASA thinks there is still a monster in the tube, but it wants to wait for better images with more light to be sure. NASA will receive additional images on Friday and Saturday that it hopes to confirm if the tube is still full.

If those images are also inconclusive, the Perseverance team still has a few options. This allows them to see if there is a substance in the tube within the persistence structure using the sampling and buffering system.

Persevere digging the rock on Wednesday. It’s the first time that Perseverance has successfully collected a rock monster. previous attempt Failed in August. The rover contains a total of 43 titanium soil sample tubes, at least 20 of which are scheduled to be filled. NASA plans to launch another spacecraft with the European Space Agency to return samples to Earth for research.

From left to right: the filled sample tube, the sample tube after percussion to swallowThe procedure and the rock from which the specimen was excavated.