Perseverance Mars rover bags 12th Red Planet rock sample

The Perseverance rover has collected a number of rocks.

In less than a month, Perseverance has drilled out and sealed up four rock samples.

Perseverance landed with NASA's Ingenuity helicopter on the floor of the Jezero crater, which was once home to a big lake and a river. A six-wheeled rover is searching for signs of ancient Mars life and bagging up samples for future return to Earth.

There are amazing photos from the Perseverance rover's first year on Mars.

The first eight rock samples collected by Perseverance were volcanic in origin. The last four came from the rocks.

Perseverance is now exploring a remnant of the delta, looking at rock formations that were built up over time as silt fell out of Jezero's ancient river. Perseverance team members have said that such deposits are more likely to harbor organic compounds than volcanic ones. The sample-collecting pace is picking up.

There are 38 sample tubes that can be filled with Martian rock and dirt. The witness tubes will help the mission team determine which materials may be from Earth.

Fifteen of the 43 tubes have been sealed up. One holds Martian air and two are witness tubes. The "atmospheric sample" was sealed in the wake of Perseverance's failed attempt to grab a rock.

The tubes will be brought to Earth by a joint NASA- European Space Agency campaign. NASA and the European Space Agency decided to use Perseverance and two Ingenuity-like helicopter to deliver the sample tubes to the NASA rocket that will launch them off the Martian surface.

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