The NASA Perseverance rover also deposited the tenth sample on Martian soil

The series of operations that led to the NASA Perseverance rover to deposit ten test tubes containing samples of rock and Martian regolith on the soil of Mars. This is the backup strategy for the Mars Sample Return mission which should bring samples to Earth around 2033. A historic moment because, if China does not arrive sooner, it will be the first time we will bring samples from another planet to ours.

Complicated operation that will need many steps before being completed. To reduce its cost NASA has chosen the cooperation of ESA. The latter will develop the lander’s robotic arm and the orbiter that will pick up the capsule in orbit and bring it back to Earth. Here scientists will be able to analyze the characteristics of the samples with the best tools available in order to have information on the possible presence of life on Mars as well as its formation and evolution. There Mars 2020 mission it’s not over though: rover And drone (NASA Ingenuity) still have a lot to discover.

NASA Perseverance also deposits the tenth sample, now we look forward

In recent days we have written several times of the operations performed by rover. NASA Perseveranceless than a week ago, had created a “selfies” displaying the tubes on the surface, but only up to the ninth. Now the JPL he announced officially that the rover also successfully filed the tenth tube thus completing this session.

The initial strategy originally envisaged having two similar samples for each collection site. One is for the main strategy (the one where the test tubes are kept inside the rover to deposit them on the lander) while the other is that of the backup strategy. The only change was for the first sample collected, several months ago, which did not go as expected, collecting instead the atmosphere (operation instead expected). This has not yet been replicated.

JPL wrote “it’s official: NASA Perseverance has released the latest tube for the deposit of Mars Sample Return! Ten samples have been deposited on the Martian surface and may be returned to Earth for further analysis in the future”. The confirmation of the operation was concluded today when it was 2:00 (in Italy), on Mars it was instead the 690th sol.

Again according to the information released, in the Three Forks area there is now also a sample that serves to determine if there has been possible contamination by material or terrestrial microorganisms. This should reduce the possibility of having false positives during future analyses. In recent days, engineers have also told why they think Martian sand/dust won’t be a problem for finding test tubes in case of need (yes, they thought about it).

The duration of the operations NASA Perseverance was due to the need to correctly map the area (chosen specifically flat). Since there is no global tracking system on Mars, we rely on the high-resolution images of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (with HiRISE) but also on the images captured from the ground by the rover itself. Now Perseverance will head to Hawksbill Gap to ascend the delta.

Ken Farley (Caltech scientist) said “we found that from the base of the delta up to the level where Rocky Top is [ndr. limite dove è arrivato il rover], the rocks appear to have been deposited in a lake environment. Those just above Rocky Top appear to have been created in or at the end of a Martian river that flowed into the lake. As we travel up the delta in a riverine environment, we expect to move over rocks composed of larger grains, from sand to large boulders. Those materials probably originated in rocks outside of Jezero, eroded and then dragged into the crater.”.