First Perseverance sampling attempt comes up empty
Posted: Fri, Aug 13, 2021, 6:13 PM ET (2213 GMT)
NASA is trying to understand why the first sampling attempt by its Perseverance Mars rover came up empty. NASA said late Aug. 6 that while the rover had drilled a rock and gathered a sample, that sample did not make its way into a sample collection tube as expected. Projects officials say that, for now, they think the problem is more likely because of unforeseen properties of the rock rather than a problem with the sample collection mechanism. Perseverance is designed to collect about three dozen samples that will be returned to Earth by two future missions by NASA and ESA.
NASA is trying to understand why the first sampling attempt by its Perseverance Mars rover came up empty. NASA said late Aug. 6 that while the rover had drilled a rock and gathered a sample, that sample did not make its way into a sample collection tube as expected. Projects officials say that, for now, they think the problem is more likely because of unforeseen properties of the rock rather than a problem with the sample collection mechanism. Perseverance is designed to collect about three dozen samples that will be returned to Earth by two future missions by NASA and ESA.
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