Perseverance is about to take a new step.
After successfully manufacturing oxygen on the Red Planet last April and successfully flying the Ingenuity helicopter, the NASA rover will start taking samples of Martian rocks within two weeks.
They will come from the bed of an ancient lake, the place at the heart of its mission on Mars, said Wednesday the US space agency.
"When Neil Armstrong took the first samples from the Sea of Tranquility 52 years ago, he began a process that would redefine what Mankind knew about the Moon," said Thomas Zurbuchen, administrator for science at The NASA.
"I expect no less for Mars with the first samples of Perseverance in the crater of Jezero, and the following ones," he added.
VIDEO.
Perseverance on Mars: NASA broadcasts Martian sound and images of the landing
On twitter, the dedicated Perseverance account, @NASAPersevere, described with the rover's point of view its implementation in the sampling area. The module, which is the size of a large SUV, landed on February 18 in the crater of Jezero, which scientists believe housed, 3.5 billion years ago, a deep lake, with the mission of looking for traces of ancient life. It has since traveled a kilometer south of its landing site. "We are now seeing a much older environment, billions of years ago," the scientific manager of the project, Ken Farley, explained during a press briefing.
Up ahead: the target spot where I plan to collect my first-ever sample of Martian rock.
I have everything I need with me to get the job done.
First is to collect detailed, close-up science of the rock, then comes the coring.
Why and how I'll sample here: https://t.co/MYw9RoDbGj pic.twitter.com/EPHJVmJH6n
- NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) July 21, 2021
Objective: Find traces of the past
NASA believes the crater was home to a lake that filled and then emptied many times and that could have created the conditions for life in the past.
The analysis of these samples must reveal the chemical and mineral composition of the rocks to know if they are volcanic or sedimentary.
The rover will also try to find possible signs of ancient germs.
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"This would open up dizzying scientific horizons"
To do this, Perseverance will first deploy its two-meter articulated arm and then manipulate an abrasive tool to clean the surface of the rocks that will be analyzed by the instruments installed on its turret.
It will use in particular an ultra sophisticated camera called SuperCam, equipped with a laser.
Scientist Ken Farley is particularly interested in a small hill which may have been formed by mud and which would be "a very good place" to find physical traces, although it would take several months for the robot to reach it.
Each rock hit by Perseverance will have an equivalent “twin” which will be sealed and stored in the robot.
NASA is planning a return mission with the European Space Agency to collect and bring the samples back to Earth, around the 2030s.
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