NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Perseverance Rover team found that the predawn hours on August 6 felt like Christmas. The scientists had instructed the rover to drill into Marss Jezero Crater rock to extract and store the mission's very first sample martian geology. This was one of 43 samples that will be sent to Earth to search for signs of ancient life.As they started reviewing new data from Mars, around 2 a.m., everything seemed to be going according to plan: The sample was apparently taken and stored in one of the 43 storage tubes on the rovers. A probe that was designed to measure the volume of that precious first sample revealed a shocking surprise: it appeared the tube was empty. The tube's image was reconstructed and revealed that it was Christmas Day. Santa had forgotten to bring some geological gifts. According to Ken Farley (Perseverance project scientist, JPL), it was certainly an embarrassing moment. The team ordered the rover take photos of the surrounding area, including inside the borehole. However, the team failed to locate the missing rock sample. It was gone! What would happen to the multi-billion-dollar plan for obtaining rocks from Mars, if Perseverances' sample acquisition hardware was found to be fatally flawed?The team concluded after a week of intensive investigation that the problem was not with the rover. It performed flawlessly. The rock had tricked the scientists. Farley claims that the rock was simply pulverized. Although it looked solid and strong, the inside of the rock was crumbly. The sample fell apart when it was drilled. Although it is not known where the majority of the sample went, the missing rock core may be found in the pile of tailings surrounding the borehole.Good news is that Jezeros rocks won't be as deceitful, and there has been no hardware failure in the grand quest to bring bits of Mars down to Earth. Farley states that there is reasonable confidence in the fact that this strange rock is unique and that it attracted us in certain ways because of its weirdness. There are high hopes that the next sample attempt will succeed, which could happen within one month.The target rock for Perseverances or Percys ground-breaking ceremony seemed almost too good to be real at first glance. Its flat face made it an ideal surface to launch the drill. The rock's surface was cleaned by an abrasive instrument. It encountered enough resistance to be able to remove the dust. The team compared the data from instruments that investigated the stones geochemical composition to photographs of the abraded patches gleaming with crystals and tentatively identified the rock as gabbro, an igneous rock formed by magma cooling down deep underground.The prize was expected to yield a cohesive sample, which the team was fully confident would happen. Radioactive compounds can also be used to date igneous rocks. This rock, which is one of the oldest in Jezero could be used as a constraint on the time of regions formation billions years ago.On August 5, the team transmitted the command to drill. The process was completely autonomous from that point until the tube was sealed and stored. Scientists could not wait, those who had the nerve to allow it to happen got a few more hours sleep. Jennifer Trosper, JPL's Perseverance project manager, said that we woke up at 2 AM the next morning to check if coring was working. Images showed a beautiful drill hole in the rock. Telemetry also indicated that a sample tube was stored inside a chamber under the rovers. A few hours later, images showed a sealed tube. We thought she was crazy, but the probe returned more data that showed there was no stone inside.It was a severe case of emotional whiplash. Farley claims that we really believed we had it in our bag. We didn't.It is now clearer that the gabbro was not going to be able to work with the coring drill. The rock is covered in rusty stains, and has been surrounded by pieces that have fallen off its surface. It appears that the rock was altered and weakened by the water that flowed through Jezero back when Jezero held river-fed lakes. This plot twist is remarkable because no one appears to have predicted it. Engineers had previously tested the sampling device more than 100 times on Earth, in a chamber that replicated the Martian atmosphere and pressures. The Percy-style coring drilling was used to test the rocks that geologists were expecting to find in Jezero. These ranged from loosely-packed sedimentary types to hard-as-nails volcanic Basalt.Farley states that we have not seen a core disappear in a failure mode. Farley says that there have been rare occasions when the core has pulverized and fallen back into the hole.Percy's coring drill could be defeated by another mischievously mushy stone in a future sampling effort. Manish Patel is a planetary scientist from the Open University in England. There are many reasons that a core can collapse into a powder, even though it appears to be rigid. A rock may appear to be structurally sound, but it can fracture or become porous upon drilling.Although it was difficult to get a sample of this gabbro, scientists have already learned valuable lessons from their momentary failure. Patel states that we now have more information about the physical properties and chemistry of Mars rocks. This knowledge will help inform future Mars drilling efforts, both on Perseverance as well as beyond.Percys' team was awarded a consolation award. Mara-Paz Zorzano is a Spanish researcher and European return sample advisor to Perseverance. She says that scientists showed great interest throughout the mission process in getting a sample of Mars' atmosphere. They now have one, thanks to the tube that only contained a tiny amount of Martian air.Trosper states that the next sampling attempt should be approached with more caution. Percy could be asked to inspect the tube before sealing it and storing it.Farley suggests that Percy could be directed to this location to grab some igneous rock in the future. The rover will now be heading to Jezero's boundary, which is known as Cratered Floor Fractured Rough. It also includes another layer in the crater, Stah. These layers could contain ancient sediments, or veneers made of volcanic ash. It is lithologically different from the once-waterlogged gabbro. The team members believe that they will be able to obtain their first sample.Mars, game on! Game on, Trosper says. You can do it. Get our core.
