NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has many talents. This week, it loosened another pair of pebbles that were blocking the sample collection instrument.
When you run into a challenge, it's best to step back and shake it off. Somewhere along the way I loosened the other two pebbles in my sampling system.
Perseverance was able to remove some of the rock fragments that had accumulated inside its bit carousel, the machine that transfers samples from the rover's drill arm to storage inside the body.
Two pieces of rock stayed behind after that maneuver. Thanks to the rover's latest efforts, those have also been removed.
The Perseverance team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab decided at the time to completely empty out the rover's sample tube by using the drill bit. It shook bits of the sample out of the tube by pointing it at the ground below.
Perseverance will have to start from scratch. In December, the rover cored a sample from a rock called Issole.
After Perseverance shimmying and shaking, the sample was returned to the surface of the planet.
Two steps forward, one step back, it's only a matter of time until the versatile rover is back in action, preparing rock samples for a future return mission.
The rover promised to return to sampling Mars soon.
Perseverance rover is on Mars to shake loose stuck rocks.
NASA's Mars Rover Shakes Off Obstructing Pebbles.
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