Images from January 7 show debris blocking the bit-circle from NASA’s Diligence Rover.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
This story is part of Welcome to Mars, our series exploring the red planet.
Mars is not very friendly to robotic explorers. He. He suffocating them with dustAnd The roughness of their wheels And Playing with their tentaclesand now presents a new challenge for NASA’s persistent rover. There was some gravel-sized debris blocking the machine’s rock sampling system.
Everything went smoothly at first. On December 29, Perseverance dug up a rock called Isol and extracted samples from it. “However, when transferring the part containing the sample to the rover bit carousel (which stores the bits and passes the tube to the tube processing device inside the rover), our sensor shows an anomaly,” Louise Gandora’s book, chief engineer for sampling and buffering, in a blog post on Friday.
From the lab to your inbox. Get the latest science stories from CNET every week.
–
–
Rover stops sampling when it encounters an unusual obstacle during the sample storage process. As the Rover team tweeted on FridayThe result is debris preventing the rover’s robotic arm from properly delivering the sample-filled tube for sealing and storage.
Perseverance was the first rover to attempt to collect samples from Mars in sealed tubes. This is a key part of a mission that also looks for signs of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet. NASA plans to send ambitious missions Future sampling mission and return them to Earth to be studied.
The explorer team ordered the engine to reverse by pulling the drill bit and drill pipe. Take some pictures along the way to help diagnose the problem. “Recent images of the bearing links confirm that within the circular carousel are several pebble-sized pieces of debris,” wrote Gandora. NASA estimates the gravel fell from the sample tube.
Mars Crater: contemplate the abyss with this wild picture of NASA
View all photos
–
While shipwrecks are a challenge, there is no cause for concern yet. Jandoura said the designers of the circular house had this possibility under consideration, but it would take time to find a solution that would allow the gravel to “come out in an organized and orderly fashion.”
NASA has proven itself to be resourceful when it comes to working during its rampage on the Red Planet. The Perseverance team plans to take this slow step to ensure the sampling system is clear and ready for action.
–
–
“Evil thinker. Master of music. Hipster friendly communicator. Bacon freak. Amateur internet enthusiast. Introverts.”
—- –
