During the last few days, NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover has collected five samples from Mars and deposited them on its surface. On January 6th, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover placed a titanium tube containing an aqueous rock sample on the surface of the Red Planet. A total of 5 out of 10 samples are dropped at Three Forks storage location so far , located in Jezero Crater, by NASA’s Mars rover.
If you are wondering what is this titanium tube all about. Well, this core sample comes from a rock that first solidified as magma before being modified on multiple occasions by water. Scientists may be able to gain an understanding of the past history of this region area by using this data, according to the space agency.
A future robotic lander would receive samples from the rover as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign. After the lander receives the samples and places them in a sample container aboard a rocket blasting into Mars orbit, there will be another spacecraft which will recover and return them safely to Earth using a robotic arm. In case Perseverance cannot deliver its samples, the depot will be used as a backup. Mars samples will be delivered by 2 small helicopters if everything goes smoothly. An orbiter waiting for them will collect them and bring them back to Earth once launched into space
Obtaining samples from Mars will reveal several information on the red planet’s climate and geology, as well as help us discover signs of microbes that once lived there. Besides NASA, other organizations are also interested in returning Mars samples. The Japanese space agency has similar goals, seeking to bring back Martian soil samples for study. Prior to the end of the decade, Mars’ Phobos and potato-shaped moon will be visited by the MMX mission, which will bag samples from Phobos and return them to Earth
