NASA's Perseverance Rover succeeds in Mars rock collection

Washington: NASA announced the Perseverance rover exploring Mars succeeded on its second try to scoop up Martian rock.

The first effort was a bust after the rock it tried to scoop up crumbled as the Perseverance robot drill got to work.

Earth-based scientists were thrilled by the undertaking.

Perseverance rover’s chief engineer Adam Steltzner tweeted: “I’ve never been more happy to see a hole in a rock.” 

The data received on September 1 indicates that the process for Perseverance to lift and take with it rock from Mars worked.

Perseverance has scientific instruments mounted on a turret that can determine chemical and mineral composition as well as seek out organic matter.

The drill Perseverance used to collect the rock sample is two meters (six and a half feet) long. The robotic arms take samples with a hollow coring bit slightly thicker than a pencil and then stores these samples under its robotic belly.

Scientists are still uncertain if they achieved their goal since lighting conditions at the time of the effort and the apparent lack of shade on the side of Mars facing the sun.

“We will work through this small hiccup with the lighting conditions in the images and remain encouraged that there is a sample in this tube,” said Jennifer Trosper, the project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Scientists are eager to determine whether there was microbial life on Mars.The target of the rock collection was nicknamed “Rochette” by scientists. The briefcase-sized rock comes from a 900 meter-long ridgeline.