CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. -- NASA's newest Mars rover has successfully collected its first rock sample for return to Earth, after last month's attempt came up empty.
The Perseverance rover's chief engineer, Adam Steltzner, called it a perfect core sample.
"I've never been more happy to see a hole in a rock," he tweeted Thursday.
A month ago, Perseverance drilled into much softer rock, and the sample crumbled and didn't get inside the titanium tube. The rover drove a half-mile to a better sampling spot to try again. Team members analyzed data and pictures before declaring success.
Perseverance arrived in February at Mars' Jezero Crater -- believed to be the home of a lush lakebed and river delta billions of years ago -- in search of rocks that might hold evidence of ancient life. NASA plans to launch more spacecraft to retrieve the samples collected by Perseverance; engineers are hoping to return as many as three dozen samples in about a decade.
"Be patient, little sample, your journey is about to begin," Steltzner said.
------
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiY2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmN0dm5ld3MuY2Evc2NpLXRlY2gvbmFzYS1zLW5ld2VzdC1tYXJzLXJvdmVyLXNuYWdzLTFzdC1yb2NrLXNhbXBsZS1mb3ItcmV0dXJuLTEuNTU3MTM5N9IBAA?oc=5
2021-09-02 19:35:10Z
52781854458621
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar