Perseverance rover drilled a rock on Mars and probably snaffled a core sample
- Reference: 1630652166
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/09/03/perserverance_rover_succesful_rock_drilling/
- Source link:
Perseverance's first attempt to obtain a core sample of a Martian rock failed when its chosen target [1]crumbled beneath the might of Earth's finest drilling equipment.
NASA therefore [2]scratched Perseverance's second target before drilling, in the hope that would prove it a suitable target.
[3]
On Friday, NASA [4]reported success.
[5]
[6]
"Data received late Sept. 1 from NASA's Perseverance rover indicate the team has achieved its goal of successfully coring a Mars rock," the Agency stated. "The initial images downlinked after the historic event show an intact sample present in the tube after coring.”
Here is NASA's image of that sample.
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Perseverance rover core sample tube with rock inside. Click to enlarge.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS
And here's the hapless rock that Perseverance cored, for all mankind.
[8]
The rock holed by Perseverance. Click to enlarge. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Don't pop the champagne just yet, dear reader. Because after NASA took the shot of the rock in the tube, Perseverance then "began a procedure called 'percuss to ingest,' which vibrates the drill bit and tube for one second, five separate times.
"The movement is designed to clear the lip of the sample tube of any residual material … and can also cause a sample to slide down farther into the tube."
[9]Everyone's going to Mars: Rocket Lab joins the Red Planet Fan Club
[10]China's Mars rover assigned extended mission after exceeding life expectancy
[11]Here boy! Making the Sample Fetch Rover that'll collect soil from the Red Planet
After the ingest-percussion, NASA tried to get some more snaps of the sample to check all had gone as planned.
"In these images, the lighting is poor, and internal portions of the sample tube are not visible," NASA warned. More snaps will be taken in due course so that NASA can feel sure the process worked.
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For now, NASA's position is that it's "encouraged that there is sample in this tube".
Perseverance carries 43 sample tubes, each of which can hold a sliver of rock about the size of a pencil. Mission plans call for the capture of around 20 samples and their eventual return to Earth in a mission that's been sketched out to launch in 2026 and return the samples to Earth in 2031.
While humanity has returned samples from asteroids, comets, the Moon, and snaffled some grains blowing around in the Solar Wind, Martian gravity is stronger than that faced by any previous sample return mission. That's what makes the retrieval of the sample Perseverance (hopefully) picked up very challenging indeed. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/12/nasa_perseverance_rocks/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/27/perseverance_sample_mars/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YTHyYNaWjC2TH3joErdIFAAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-s-perseverance-rover-successfully-cores-its-first-rock
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YTHyYNaWjC2TH3joErdIFAAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[7] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/09/03/nasa_perseverance_sample_tube_with_cored_rock_contents_inside.jpg
[8] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/09/03/nasa_perseverance_drill_hole.jpg
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/23/rocket_lab_mars/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/23/zhurong_extended_mission/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/14/nasa_esa_mars_sample_fetch_rover/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YTHyYNaWjC2TH3joErdIFAAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Holy Rock, Batman!
"In these images, the lighting is poor, and internal portions of the sample tube are not visible," NASA warned. More snaps will be taken in due course so that NASA can feel sure the process worked.
Hmmm - a few seconds in Photoshop lightening the shadows reveals what appears to be quite a lotta rock sample in there, and in good resolution. Now, how to let those NASA rocket scientists know about the existence of photo editing software............
Re: Holy Rock, Batman!
I think NASA have had enough bother from people who 'manipulate' internet images without indulging in the practice themselves.
The engineers could have fitted an LED to shine a light into those notoriously dark unlit drilling tubes. Cost would have been what? 5p for an LED?
Re: Holy Rock, Batman!
A TRL 9 LED proven to work in harsh space environments with ionising radiation and stuff would probably cost at least 200 Bazooka Joe comics.
Laboratories on Earth must be drooling with anticipation at the prospect of obtaining actual samples from Mars, gathered from confirmed sites. No matter how capable the rovers are, they will never be able to carry all of the resources of a terrestrial lab with them. Once the first lunar samples were collected, our understanding of the Moon advanced significantly.
Planet Doctor
So Mars brings a sample to a planet doctor. A week later it gets the results:
- We have a bad news, it looks like you started developing humans. It's probably going to take 100,000 years before the rash disappears.
They are just playing
A future mission is supposed to pick up the samples and return it to earth. It will be much easier for a future mission to just scoop up a shovel full of gravel and bring that back.
Re: They are just playing
There is a risk, they say "It's so cool in here, we ain't coming back!"
"NASA's image of that sample"
Hey Mulder, is that a bit of black goo I see on the left-hand part of the image ?
Hopefully that is another step that NASA can tick off.
Laboratories on Earth must be collectively drooling in excitement at getting their hands on real samples from Mars, taken from known locations. No matter how good the rovers are, they cannot take the fully resources of a terrestrial lab with them. Certainly our knowledge of the Moon advanced considerably once the first lunar samples where retrieved.
Raising a glass to Perseverance today.