NASA's Perseverance rover is slated to start constructing the first sample depot on another planet in the coming days, the space agency announced. This will be a significant milestone in the NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return effort, which intends to return samples from Mars to Earth for further study.
The Perseverance rover will drop one of its titanium sample tubes carrying a chalk-size core of rock from its belly 2.9 feet (88.8 centimeters) onto the ground within Jezero Crater. Perseverance will deposit a total of 10 tubes carrying samples representing the diversity of the rock record in Jezero Crater over the course of 30 or so days.
Three Forks: The First Sample Depot on Another Planet
NASA calls the sample depot Three Forks, which is an area at Jezero Crater. CNet reported that it was not easy to identify. as they have to find a location that is flat and clear of rocks on a planet known for its rough terrain.
The future MSR mission will be accompanied by two tiny helicopters that will collect samples. The success of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter inspired these rotorcrafts. They need a secure landing spot to pick up the tubes.
According to NASA, the tubes will be placed at intervals of 6 to 49 feet (5 to 15 meters) in an elaborate zigzag pattern. MSR program manager Richard Cook explained that the titanium tubes should be deposited in an intricate zigzag pattern and not just drop them all together because the helicopters are only meant to carry one tube at a time.
The Perseverance rover is anticipated to begin construction on the depot in the coming days and will spend over a month perfecting it. The procedure will need thorough documentation in order to detect the tubes even if the Martian winds bury them in dust or sand.
Scientists believe Jezero Crater was formerly a lake bed and the rock samples the rover discovered were of volcanic origins as well as those related to the planet's water history. Organic compounds have been discovered in certain rocks, but we'll need to bring those samples into labs on Earth to see if they contain signs of ancient microbial life.
The Extended Mission of Perseverance Rover
Perseverance's primary mission will end on January 6, 2023, which is about one Mars year or equivalent to 687 Earth days after its arrival on the Red Planet on February 18, 2021, SciTech Daily reported.
Perseverance's project manager Art Thompson at JPL said that the team will continue working on the sample depot deployment when their extended mission begins on January 7. But once they are set at Three Forks, the rover will be heading to the top of the delta since the team would want to take a look around at the area.
The extended mission, dubbed the Delta Top Campaign, will likely begin in February after Perseverance completes its ascent of the delta's steep embankment and arrives at the expanse that constitutes the upper surface of the Jezero delta.
During this eight-month campaign, the research team will be looking for boulders and other debris brought from other parts of Mars and deposited by the ancient river that produced this delta.
JPL's Katie Stack Morgan, the deputy project scientist for Perseverance, said that the mission is the chance to get a glimpse of the geological process beyond the walls of the Jezero Crater. The team is going to explore the hypothesized raging river that was believed to once existed in the Jezero Crater to obtain rock samples.
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