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NASA Perseverance Rover Prepares to Drop First Set of Sample Tubes on Mars

One of the most ambitious campaigns to return the samples from Mars safely back to Earth for in-depth analysis is already underway. Over the next few weeks, the Perseverance rover will start building the first sample depot on the Red Planet. The rover will deposit 10 tubes that contain crucial material taken from the Jezero Crater.
Perseverance rover starts building a sample depot on Mars 6 photos
Photo: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory via Youtube
Perseverance rover takes image of the “Three Forks”This map shows the planned route Perseverance will take in 2023Images shows Perseverance's sample collectionPerseverance captures image of rocky hilltop nicknamed “Rockytop”
The NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return campaign is a complex mission that involves multiple spacecraft. The goal is to return precious material from Mars back to Earth, where it will be studied using advanced lab equipment that would be otherwise too big to transport to the Red Planet. In order to accomplish that by the end of the decade, NASA and ESA and working together to create a robotic system that will retrieve the samples from the Martian surface and bring them to Earth.

Perseverance will play a key role in the campaign. Since it arrived on Mars in 2021, the rover has been busy collecting material from the Jezero Crater. So far, it has stored in its belly 21 sample tubes that contain rock, regolith, atmosphere, and witness materials. Now, it’s ready to deposit the first set of samples meant to be retrieved later for flight to Earth.

In the following weeks, Perseverance will begin to build a sample depot. The six-wheeled rover will drop one of the gathered samples in a strategic spot near the crater, nicknamed by scientists the “Three Forks.” Perseverance is expected to drop 10 tubes that contain rock fragments in a zone with smooth terrain.

The site needs to be rock-free since Ingenuity-like helicopters are expected to land in the designated area and pick up the samples. Moreover, the tubes cannot be deposited too close to one another. NASA says that they have to be 16 to 49 feet (5 to 15 meters) away from each other. Perseverance must also drop them in a zigzag pattern, so the recovery helicopters can safely retrieve them without ruining the depot.

“You can’t simply drop them in a big pile because the recovery helicopters are designed to interact with only one tube at a time,” said Richard Cook, Mars Sample Return program manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Building a depot is not an easy task. The entire process will take well over a month. The team will have to examine numerous images taken by Perseverance before and after each tube is dropped. This will help scientists locate the samples even if they get buried by sand or dust before being retrieved.

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About the author: Florina Spînu
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Florina taught herself how to drive in a Daewoo Tico (a rebadged Suzuki Alto kei car) but her first "real car" was a VW Golf. When she’s not writing about cars, drones or aircraft, Florina likes to read anything related to space exploration and take pictures in the middle of nature.
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