Perseverance, an exploration rover that failed to collect its first recovery soil sample on Mars last month, apparently succeeded in the second collection it tried last week. According to NASA, the sample tube contained a rusty iron-colored sample hollowed out from rock, confirming that it was successfully processed and ready to be recovered to Earth. ..
At the time of the first sampling, NASA considered it completely successful in processing, but there was nothing in the sample tube. Scientists said that the sample failed to be taken as a sample because it broke into sand.
The reason why NASA didn’t say that it succeeded immediately even though there was clearly something in the sample tube this time was that it was intended to make the confirmation work more reliable in light of this previous failure. I can think of it. In the first image taken after the collection work, I saw something that looked like a rock, but it may have been difficult to make a clear success due to the angle of sunlight. But then, in a new photo taken on Saturday, I could clearly see the sample.
I’ve got it! With better lighting down the sample tube, you can see the rock core I collected is still in there. Up next, I’ll process this sample and seal the tube. #SamplingMars
Latest images: https://t.co/Ex1QDo3eC2 pic.twitter.com/gumqpmoXBW
– NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) September 5, 2021
Steven Ruff of Arizona State University states on his YouTube channel that the sample is likely to be an iron-containing material formed by the reaction of peridotite with water.
Perseverance seals this sample and places it on the spot or in a designated place for the next sample collection. The samples placed on the surface of the earth will be collected by a recovery rover, which will come to Mars later, in one place near the Jezero crater, and will be loaded onto a rocket that will eventually return to Earth.
However, the recovery rover and recovery rocket that ESA plans to prepare are still in the design stage and have no shadow or shape. According to the current schedule, this recovery mission will depart for Mars by 2026, arrive in 2028, and return to Earth in 2031.
Speaking of sample returns from outside the earth in recent years, JAXA has succeeded in returning from asteroids with Hayabusa / Hayabusa2, and China will bring back the lunar soil with Chang’e 5 in December 2020. I am successful. NASA, meanwhile, is in the process of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft bringing back samples from the asteroid Bennu, which will return in 2023.
The sample return from Mars is a joint mission of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), and samples packed by Perseverance will be collected by ESA’s Sample Fetch Rover and launched into orbit of Mars. And the container containing the sample is also planned to be caught by ESA’s Earth Return Orbiter and returned to Earth. Airbus of France won a development contract for these ESA devices in October last year.
Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
(Source: NASA. Reprinted from Engadget Japanese version)
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