NASA confirmed on Monday that scientists had collected the first stone sample when NASA’s future mission finally returned to Earth.
“I understand!” The satellite agency took to its Twitter page, alongside a small thick rock core photo of a pencil in a sample tube.
The sample was collected on September 1, but NASA was not sure if the first rover was successful in capturing the item, as the first images taken in poor light were not clear.
After taking a new photo to verify the content of the mission control, Persistence moved the tube to the inside of the rover for further measurements and images, and then placed the handle on the plant.
“This is a great achievement and I will not be able to see the remarkable achievements of our team,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.
Science Co-Administrator Thomas Zurbuchene compared his success to the first stone samples taken from the moon, which is still very important to researchers today.
The endurance sample and cache system is a complex system that sends more than 3,000 components into space.
The first target was a large-sized rock with a bag nicknamed “Rochete”, which was particularly interesting from a geological point of view, as it contained ancient exposed stone slabs.
Endurance uses a drill and an empty coronary bit at the end of a 7-foot (2 m) robotic arm to draw samples.
After throwing the stone, the rover vibrated the drill bit and the tube for one second, five different times.
This procedure is called “swallowing perforation” and is used to clean the rest of the material from the lips and allow the sample to slide into the tube.
Perseverance landed in February on the bed of an ancient lake called Jezero Crete.
It is also trying to better understand the red planet geology and the past.
The first part of Rover’s science mission, which lasts for hundreds of years or Martian days, ends when he returns to his destination.
At that time, it may have traveled between 1.6 and 3.1 miles (2.5 and 5 miles) and filled up to eight of the 43 sample tubes.
It then travels to the Gezero Crete Delta region, which is rich in clay. Such minerals on earth could preserve the fossil record of ancient fossils.
Finally, NASA wants to send robots in the 2030s together with the European Space Agency.
The first attempt to take a sample in August failed after the rock was severely damaged to withstand the robotic drill.
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