The NASA Perseverance rover is paving the way for future missions that will bring samples from Mars to Earth for the first time. The plan involves multiple vehicles and two helicopters that will work together to collect the samples from the surface of Mars and return them to Earth. Perseverance is starting the process by collecting samples, putting them in tubes and leaving them on the surface for future missions.
The first samples will be deposited on the surface ready for collection. Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters, said in a statement that "never before has a scientificallycurated collection of samples from another planet been collected and placed for return to Earth" The Mars samples that will be used for this cache have been reviewed by NASA and the European Space Agency. It will be a historic moment when the first tube is placed on the surface.
Perseverance has collected 14 samples so far, 10 of which will be deposited in the Three Forks region. The region is flat and does not have large boulders which could cause issues in the future. Rocks collected from the 8 mile journey across Jezero are included in the collection.
The lead scientist for the Mars Sample Return said in a statement that bringing the samples to the lab would allow them to achieve breakthrough science. It is possible to learn more about the environmental conditions on Mars at a time when life appeared on Earth and possibly on the Red Planet.
Scientists think that the site of an ancient lake could once have hosted life. Scientists need to get samples into Earth-based labs to conduct more detailed experiments than can be done on a rover.
The rover will explore and collect more samples after dropping off the samples. A significant mission milestone will have taken place once those tubes are dropped, but it doesn't mean Perseverance explorations or sample collection has concluded. We will be heading up to the top of the delta to perform science investigations and collect more rockcores. There will be a lot of great stuff to choose from.
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