NASA has just announced the great news of rover Perseverance and its first drill hole on our planetary neighbor.
Even if the rover’s first attempt to collect rock samples was a failure, in the end, it proved that it has what it takes to do the task. However, there’s a twist.
The US space agency has also published pictures of a small mound with a peculiar hole in its center right next to Perseverance.
Here is what you need to know.
Digging Up the First Martian Rock
Perseverance’s recent task was challenging and complex. The rover had to drill into the surface of the Red Planet and collect rock samples.
Future missions would, later on, pick the samples for examination by scientists.
But the ambitious quest didn’t bring any results. Data sent to NASA by Perseverance after its first effort to collect a sample and seal it in a tube showed no rock had been found.
As unfortunate as it could be, NASA explained that such things could happen all the time. It’s actually a risk with breaking new ground. So, even if Perseverance wasn’t successful, it still made history with its first drill hole on Mars!
Below, there is a picture of the drill hole, published by NASA:
“[…] early pics and data show a successful drill hole, but no sample in the tube-something we’ve never seen in testing on Earth,” a post on @NASAPersevere Twitter account states.
What’s Next?
The drill hole is only the beginning. It’ll be followed by more tasks that are expected to take around 11 days, with the goal of findings any signs of ancient microbial life.
NASA is also confident enough and believes that the Perseverance rover has what it takes to finish the mission. Scientists also believe that the place where the rover landed, at the Jezero Crater, contained a deep lake 3.5 billion years ago.