(ORDO NEWS) — Over the past few weeks, one of the main tasks of the Perseverance rover has been to collect carefully selected samples of Martian rocks and soil.
These samples were placed in test tubes and left in certain places. A future sample delivery mission will be able to collect these tubes and bring them back to Earth.
Perseverance has already dropped 10 samples and, to celebrate, took a couple of selfies with several test tubes visible in a dedicated “sample vault”.
The rover creates it in the region of the Lake crater. The area has been nicknamed “Three Forks”.
The selfie was taken with the camera on the end of the robotic arm on January 20, 2023, the 682nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
Selfies are made up of 56 individual images that have been stitched together. In this image, the ninth sample tube lies next to the rover.
NASA says the repository marks a major milestone in the mission to bring samples back from Mars. True, its plans and details are currently still under development.
This first storage facility will serve as a backup in case Perseverance is unable to deliver its samples to a future robotic lander.
The location of the warehouse was well documented with local landmarks and accurate coordinates, so that a future mission could land nearby and go to collect sample vials.
The belly of the rover contains all the equipment and supplies needed to collect samples.
Perseverance has a wheel containing various types of drills. Next to him are test tubes – in total at the beginning of the mission there were 43 test tubes with samples.
While the rover’s large arm reaches forward and drills into the rock, the small robotic arm in its belly acts as a lab assistant.
She lifts and moves new sample tubes to the drill and transfers the filled sample containers to the compartment where they are sealed and stored.
Once the tube is sealed, nothing can fall out of it or get inside. The test tubes are stored in the belly of the rover until the team decides to dump the samples on the surface.
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