Page 1 - Spec Tech Vol 1 Issue 11

Dr. MGR-ACS Space Technology Centre

SPACE EXPLORER

“An Ingress to Borderless world”

Volume 01/Issue-11 Bimonthly 16-30, December 2022

Perseverance rover drops 2nd sample

tube on Mars

On Friday (Dec. 23), NASA announced that which resemble miniature lightsabers from Star
Perseverance successfully dropped its Wars, for potential collection by a future Mars
second rock sample tube on the Martian Sample Return mission. That mission and an
surface. And while it's not the orbiter could launch to Mars by 2028 and return
first Mars sample Perseverance has dropped the sample tubes to Earth five years later. If all
for a potential future mission to bring to Earth goes according to plan, Perseverance or two
in 2033, it certainly is the biggest. "My second small helicopters will deliver Mars samples to a
sample drop is looking good!" lander that would then launch them into space so
NASA's Perseverance rover team wrote in a that a waiting orbiter can collect them for the trip
Twitter update Friday. "This tube holds a back to Earth. The samples Perseverance is
piece of sedimentary rock from the edge of dropping are backups. The rover collected twin
the ancient river delta here — the longest samples at each drill site, storing one inside its
rock core I've taken to date." The longest rock body while dropping the other in case a backup
core collected by Perseverance is a sample is needed. Perseverance is expected to deliver
called "Mageik," which the rover drilled out of the ones it carries to the waiting lander if the
the rock "Amalik" this fall from the "Enchanted nuclear-powered lasts long enough to reach
Lake" region of ancient delta in its Jezero the Mars Sample Return lander at the end of the
Crater landing site. "The tube itself is about decade. NASA's Perseverance rover landed on
the size of a marker, and I measured the rock Mars in February 2021. It's primary mission will
core sample inside at 7.36 cm (about 2.9 last two years, but NASA hopes the rover could
inches)," NASA wrote as Perseverance on live much longer. Its predecessor, the
Twitter. Perseverance dropped its first sample nuclear-powered Curiosity rover, recently
tube at a nearby spot on Wednesday (Dec. celebrated its 10th anniversary on Mars in
21). Perseverance is dropping 10 sealed August.
tubes containing Mars rock samples,

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