NASA’s Mars Rover has deposited its second rock sample for the historic Mars sample return mission.
NASA’s Perseverance Rover has now deposited its second rock sample, after the first was deposited less than a week earlier for NASA’s Sample Return Program. Mars Sample Return is NASA’s program to return important scientific samples to Earth in an effort to study conditions on the Red Planet for the possibility of establishing a colony one day. NASA’s Mars Sample Return Program is a series of missions to recover scientific samples from Mars collected by the rover. One of the most ambitious space missions ever, the Mars Sample Return mission will allow scientists to study those samples using the latest technology here on Earth. Just days ago, the mission began with the first sample collected and deposited at the capture site by NASA’s Perseverance Rover on December 21.
Now, another one has been deposited at the drop site.
“Seeing our first sample on Earth is a wonderful culmination of our main mission period, which ends on January 6,” said Rick Welch, deputy project manager for Perseverance at JPL. We start our cache, and we also close this first chapter of the quest.”
NASA’s Perseverance Rover is collecting duplicate rock samples from the rocks selected for this mission. The first sample, a core of an igneous rock dubbed “Malay,” was collected from an area in Mars’ Jezero Crater called “South Setah” on January 31 and deposited in a titanium test tube that is currently located on the surface of the Red Planet. Over the next two months, the rover will deposit a total of 10 tubes at the site called “Three Forks.”
The Sample Recovery Vehicle will be launched to Mars in 2028, carrying with it a NASA-led Mars rocket and a pair of small Mars helicopters that will land near the Perseverance landing site in Jezero Crater. The Perseverance rover will transfer the Mars samples to the sample lander, and deliver a set of tube samples carried onboard via the robotic arm attached to it.
Helicopters will provide sample capture assistance by picking up additional samples hidden on the surface by Perseverance. The MAV will transport the sample tube container into orbit, making the MAV the first ever rocket to lift off from the surface of Mars.
According to NASA, the capture, containment and return system aboard the Earth Return Orbiter will capture the sample container and transport it to a clean area for return to Earth. Then, the Earth Orbital Return Vehicle will deliver the entry vehicle and all samples to Earth’s orbit, where they will separate and land safely on Earth.