NASA wants to return rocks and soil from Mars to Earth.
The cache will be transported to the rocket that will launch them off the red planet a decade from now.
Perseverance is planning more rock drilling. The most recent sample is the most promising one to contain evidence of ancient Martian life, according to the chief scientist.
There's a lot of different materials in the bag, so to speak, and she's excited about the possibility of bringing them back.
The samples would be loaded onto the rocket if Perseverance broke down.
NASA's Ingenuity has made 29 flights since arriving with Perseverance at Mars. The weight of the helicopter is just 4 pounds. The new versions have wheels.
NASA scrapped their plan to launch a fetch rover after seeing Perseverance's performance.
The director of NASA's Mars sample return program said the revised path is simpler. Each helicopter will be able to lift one sample tube at a time.
Gramling said that they have confidence that they can count on Perseverance to bring the samples back.
The European Space Agency is working with NASA. As many as 30 samples from Mars would arrive on Earth in 2033 if all goes according to plan. If a sample holds signs of life that may have existed billions of years ago when water flowed on the planet, it's time to do a lab analysis.
The grounded ExoMars rover can't be refashioned to help retrieve the samples. Russia and Europe cut ties with the project because of the war in Ukranian. Russia was supposed to give the ride.
A decision on when the rover can launch to Mars will be made in the fall.
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