NASA has spent nine years and nearly $2 billion excavating and storing samples of Martian rock. NS perseverance explorer He was on the verge of finally achieving it for the first time on Friday.
Rover took the rock in it The bottom of the ancient lake of Mars Which could bring alien life, and I tried to dig. But then a strange thing happened: the sample seemed to have disappeared without a trace.
There was a finger-sized hole in the rock where the sample had to come out, but nothing in the rover’s sample tube. The rock core is not located near the crater. It is not there.
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA, said: see press. “I believe we have the right team to work on this, and we will stick to a solution to ensure future success.”
To find out what’s going on, NASA instructs Perseverance to take a close-up photo of your drill hole. Mission control will then try to come up with a plan to attempt further sampling.
“The initial thought was that the empty tube was more likely caused by rock targets not interacting as we expected during drilling, and it was less likely that there was a hardware issue with the sampling and buffer systems,” said Jennifer Trosper, Perseverance Project Manager, with the current situation. . “Over the next few days, the team will spend more time analyzing the data we have, as well as obtaining some additional diagnostic data to support understanding the root causes of empty tubes.”
The main goal of persistence on Mars is to explore an area called Jezero Crater and collect rock samples; The tube that came out empty was one of 43 the rover carried for this purpose. NASA’s long-term plan is to send another mission to Mars in about a decade to collect samples collected by Perseverance and return them to Earth. Then future scientists can investigate whether microbial life lived in the lakes that once filled the basin.
In other words, a lot of planning and money depended on the ability of perseverance to successfully excavate this specimen.
Mars keeps NASA on alert
In an attempt to take the first samples, Perseverance first used an abrasive tool to remove dust and surface coatings from the rocks. Rover then stretched out his arm 7 feet long, at the end of which was a sample collection instrument. This tool uses a percussion drill to push the drill bit into the rock.
The whole process is independent. Mission controller simply sends a “go” command to persistence.
The data sent back to Earth by the rover since its attempts so far shows that it has carried out the necessary steps exactly as planned. However, for some reason, the tube was empty.
The persistent rock you’re trying to sample is typical of the area you’re traversing. The floor of Jezzero Crater is covered with what NASA calls “paving stones.” These porous rocks can be either sedimentary (meaning they are created by the activity of rivers and lakes) or volcanic. Taking samples will help scientists determine the type of rock that lines the crater floor, thereby increasing their understanding of the area’s history.
Other Mars missions have also encountered unexpected difficulties from rock and soil. NASA recently had to release the ‘mole’ of the Insight landing, A filter that is supposed to penetrate the Martian crust and measure its temperature. The mole finds itself bouncing back into place on a hard ground called the “duracrust”.
“I’ve been involved in every Mars rover mission since its inception, and this planet has always taught us what we didn’t know about it,” Trosper said. “One thing I’ve found, it’s not uncommon for complications to occur during complex activities for the first time.”
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