(MENAFN– Al Bayan)
NASA’s “Perseverance” has finally deposited its first sample of Martian rocks to return to Earth, according to the “Daily Mail”.
The robot began its mission to find ancient biomarkers in the Red Planet’s mud on April 22 that could indicate the presence of alien life there.
The rover roamed the delta looking for sampling sites that might contain ancient organic microbes, before drilling for the sample.
The titanium tube contains a core of igneous rocks mined from the Jezero crater area on Mars on January 31.
The specimen has been unofficially named Malay, a duplicate of one of the 17 specimens currently hidden in the heart of Perseverance.
This marks the top ten duplicates that will be deposited here over the next couple of months, but ideally won’t be needed.
The plan is for Perseverance to deliver its original samples to a robotic lander that will reach Mars in the future.
The spacecraft will then use a robotic arm to place the tubes into the containment pod of a small rocket, which will then be launched into Mars orbit.
There, another spacecraft will pick up the containment pod and bring it back to Earth.
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