NASA Says Perseverance Rover To Begin Collecting Samples From Martian Surface

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd July, 2021) The Perseverance Rover will begin collecting specimens from an ancient Martian lake bed, analyzing the specimens with a series of instruments and then storing the samples for an eventual flight to Earth, NASA said on Wednesday.

"This important mission milestone is expected to begin within the next two weeks," NASA said in a press release. "Perseverance will require about 11 days to complete its first sampling."

The six-wheel rover that landed on Mars in February is now positioned at a site believed to contain the deepest and most ancient layers of exposed bedrock in a dry lakebed known as the Jezero Crater. The rover will collect two samples, including a specimen for what NASA called "proximity science."

"On the geologic double, first we use an abrading bit to scrape off the top layers of rock and dust to expose fresh, unweathered surfaces, blow it clean with our Gas Dust Removal Tool, and then get up close and personal with our turret-mounted proximity science instruments," NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Vivian Sun said in the release.

Instruments including a laser spectrograph on the rover's mast will then perform mineral and chemical examinations before drilling into the specimen for further analysis.

The samples will then be sealed and stored for subsequent NASA missions, now in development in with the European Space Agency, that would send spacecraft to Mars to collect the sealed samples and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.