Images taken by orbiters can identify locations of the samples with a precision of about 3 feet (~one meter). The sample cache(s) will remain on the Martian surface, awaiting potential pick-up by a future mission. The rover may cache over 30 selected rock and “soil” (regolith) samples.įollow-on Steps potentially completed by a later Mars mission The Perseverance rover puts the Martian samples, the witness blanks, and procedural blanks in the same place on the Martian surface so that a future mission could potentially retrieve and return them all together. In the baseline plan, Perseverance places one or more large groups of samples in strategic locations. Depositing the cores is an early step toward the first. The team uses a strategy called depot caching to determine when and where to leave tubes. NASA and the European Space Agency plan to send another spacecraft to fetch the samples, which will be returned to Earth in about a decade. The Perseverance rover places each sealed tube in a storage rack on board and transports it until the mission team chooses to deposit it on the Martian surface. 18, 2021, it will seek signs of past microbial life and characterize the planet’s climate and geology. Each sample weighs about a half of an ounce (15 grams). When NASA’s Mars 2020 rover lands on the Red Planet on Feb.

Perseverance breaks off the core sample from the rock, and caps and hermetically seals the sample in its tube. With a pre-cleaned tube for the sample, the rover’s rotary percussive coring drill penetrates about 2 inches (5 centimeters) into the target material. Once scientists identify a rock target of interest, Perseverance drills a core sample from it. In addition to these special rocks, Perseverance also collects volcanic and other rocks to help establish a record of geologic and environmental changes over time. Together, they improve the chances of finding ancient traces of microbial life on Mars, if any ever existed. Finding rocks that formed in water, have the chemical building blocks of life, and can preserve signs of organics and life is key. Some special types of rocks can preserve chemical traces of life over billions of years. Such rocks are even more interesting if they have organic molecules, the carbon-based chemical building blocks of life. They especially look for rocks that formed in, or were altered by, water. How does Perseverance explore during surface operations? Step 1: Find Compelling RocksĪs the Perseverance rover explores Mars, scientists identify promising rock targets. tests the ability to produce oxygen from the carbon-dioxide Martian atmosphere, in support of future human missions (Objective D).drills core samples from about 30 promising rock and “soil” (regolith) targets and caches them on the Martian surface (Objective C).finds rocks capable of preserving chemical traces of ancient life (biosignatures), if any existed (Objective B).

finds rocks that formed in, or were altered by, environments that could have supported microbial life in Mars’ ancient past (Objective A).

While exploring Mars during surface operations, Perseverance: What does Perseverance do during surface operations?

Nasa mars rover collect its sample