Washington:
NASA has confirmed that its Perseverance rover has succeeded in collecting its initial rock sample on Mars.
“I’ve got it!” the space agency tweeted in the early hours of Monday, alongside a photograph of a rock core slightly thicker than a pencil inside a sample tube.
I’ve got it! With improved lighting down the sample tube, you can see the rock core I collected is nonetheless in there. Up next, I’ll method this sample and seal the tube. #SamplingMars
Latest pictures: https://t.co/Ex1QDo3eC2pic.twitter.com/gumqpmoXBW
— NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) September 5, 2021
NASA stated last week it believed it had achieved the feat, but poorly-lit photographs taken by the rover meant that the group operating the mission have been not particular whether or not the sample had stayed inside its tube.
It had to retake the images in improved lighting, but sending back the information can take numerous days.
“With better lighting down the sample tube, you can see the rock core I collected is still in there,” stated NASA in the new tweet, adding that the next stage would be sealing this tube and storing it.
The target was a briefcase-sized rock nicknamed “Rochette” from a ridgeline that is half a mile (900 meters) extended.
Perseverance makes use of a drill and a hollow coring bit at the finish of its 7-foot-extended (2-meter-extended) robotic arm to extract samples.
After coring the rock, the rover vibrated the drill bit and tube for one second, 5 separate instances.
This process is known as “percuss to ingest” and is meant to clear the lip of the tube of residual material, and bring about the sample to slide down the tube.
Perseverance landed on an ancient lake bed known as the Jezero Crater in February, on a mission to search for indicators of ancient microbial life applying a suite of sophisticated instruments mounted on its turret.
It is also attempting to improved characterize the Red Planet’s geology and previous climate.
Eventually NASA desires to gather samples taken by the rover in a joint mission with the European Space Agency, sometime in the 2030s.
Its initial try at taking a sample in August failed immediately after the rock was as well crumbly to withstand the robot’s drill.
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