Key discoveries and results from Perseverance’s two-year voyage to Mars

Over the course of nearly two years of exploration, NASA’s Perseverance rover has made many important discoveries and results. The rover’s most recent and significant achievement was the creation of the first-ever storage facility for Martian soil samples. The warehouse, which is located in the Three Forks area of ​​Jezero Crater, contains 10 sample tubes. They represent different geological features of Mars.
In order for the tubes to be safely recovered by a future NASA/ESA Mars Sample Return mission, the repository had to be built with careful planning and navigation. The samples will remain on the surface of Mars as backups for a kit maintained by Perseverance on board. Samples will be delivered to the Sample Landing Module as part of the return-to-Earth effort primarily through this approach. The repository serves as a primary backup in case Perseverance is unable to transfer samples for any reason.
Samples stored in the repository are expected to provide a fascinating cross-section of the geological events that occurred at Jezero shortly after the crater’s formation some four billion years ago. The cores of sedimentary and igneous rocks will aid in knowledge of Mars’ past. This can provide information about ancient microbial life. Sedimentary rocks are of particular interest because they may contain traces of prehistoric biology.
Perseverance has been collecting rock samples in pairs as part of its research campaign. Expedition scientists have classified these rocks as “of scientific interest”. Each couple now has one sample in the neatly organized repository and the other half inside Perseverance. The rover also left behind an air sample and a “witness” tube. They are used to check whether the samples being collected might be contaminated with materials brought back from Earth by the rover.
Perseverance is currently in the process of transitioning to the next phase of its mission. The Curved Unit is the site of a new science campaign. It is a Martian sandbar built from silt that was deposited in a bend in one of the flowing river channels in Jezero Crater many years ago. The science team is optimistic that the curved unit will be a great site to search for interesting sandstone and even mudstone outcrops, as well as to monitor geological processes occurring outside the crater’s physical boundaries.
Launching the Mars mini-helicopter dubbed Ingenuity, the first vehicle to fly on another planet on its own, was one of Perseverance’s finest accomplishments. Ingenuity is still in the operational demonstration phase after completing the technology’s first 30-day test flight.
Perseverance’s two years on Mars have already produced important lessons. An important achievement for activities on another planet was the creation of the first storage repository for Martian soil samples. Samples preserved in the repository will shed light on Mars’ geological past. Beyond the boundaries of Jezero Crater, the Curvilinear Unit Region rover’s ongoing mission is expected to discover more fascinating geological outcrops and processes. The Perseverance mission continues to stimulate and advance our knowledge of Mars.