NASA diligently put together a response team after Rosa’s first Mars model attempt became vacant

To prepare the first attempt at the task of collecting a sample from Mars, the rover’s scientific team shows a drilled hole called “Paver Rock”. Credit: NASA / JBL-Caltech

The team continues to explore the Rover Gesero Greater while evaluating its latest performance.

Data sent to Earth by NASAAfter the first attempt to collect a rock sample, the diligent rover Tuesday Seal in a sample tube so that no rock is collected during the initial sample process.

The rover carries 43 titanium sample tubes and explores the Xero gorge, where it will collect rock and regolith (broken rock and dust) specimens for future analysis.

This image, taken by NASA’s diligent rover on August 6, shows the sample collection tube number 233 being empty. This is one of the data sent to Earth by the diligence shown that the rover did not collect any Martian rock during the first attempt to center a model. Credit: NASA / JBL-Caltech

Thomas Surbuchen, co – executive director of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. We will be diligent. “

The perseverance model and caching system uses a blank coring bit and a rhythmic drill at the end of its 7-foot (2 m long). Robot arm Take samples. Telemetry from the rover indicates that the drill and bit were engaged as planned during its first coring attempt, and after curing, the sample tube was executed as planned.

This updated color image from NASA’s Mastcam-Z on the Perseverance Rover shows a sample tube inside the coring bit after the August 6 curing process. Credit: NASA / JBL-Caltech

Jessica Samuels, diligent surface work manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said, “The sampling process is autonomous from start to finish. One of the steps after placing a probe in a collection tube is to measure the sample.

Diligent work coordinates a response team to analyze data. As an initial step Watson (a wide-angle topographic sensor for operations and electrical engineering) used the imager — located at the end of the robotic arm — to take close-up pictures of the borehole. Once the team has a good understanding of what happened, they can figure out when to plan the next sample collection effort.

The piercing hole of the first sample collection effort of diligence, with the shadow of the rover, can be seen in this picture taken by one of the rover’s navigation cameras. Credit: NASA / JBL-Caltech

“The initial thinking was that the hollow tube often did not perform as well as we expected during rock target requesting, and the hardware problem with the model and caching system was minimal,” said the Patience Project Manager. JBL. “Over the next few days, the team will spend more time analyzing the data we have, and will receive some additional diagnostic data to understand the root cause of the empty pipe.”

Earlier NASA missions to Mars encountered amazing rock and regolithic properties during sample collection and other operations. In 2008, the Phoenix mission model was “sticky” and difficult to navigate in internal science tools, resulting in several attempts before success. Curiosity pierced the rocks, making it harder and more fragile than expected. Most recently, a thermal probe in an insider lander called the “mole” failed to penetrate the surface of Mars as planned.

This animation shows data collected on a sample tube of Mars using a computerized tomography (CT) scanner. Engineers working on model pipes used 3D images to better understand the internal structure of the pipes. Credit: NASA / JBL-Caltech

“I’ve been on every Mars rover trip since the beginning, and this planet always teaches us what we don’t know about it,” Trosper said. “One thing I found is that it’s not uncommon for problems to occur during complex, first – time operations.”

The first scientific campaign

Diligence is currently exploring two geographical units with deeper and more primitive layers and other intriguing geographical features of the Giuseppe Greater. The first unit to be called the “Greater Floor Fracture Rough” is Jessero’s site. The adjacent unit, “Sada” (meaning “in the middle of the sand” in Navajo), also has a Martian bed, and contains ridges, layered rocks, and sand dunes.

Recently, the diligent science team began using color images from the brilliant Mars helicopter to search for areas of potential scientific interest and potential dangers. Ingenuity completed its 11th flight on Wednesday, August 4, flying approximately 1,250 feet (380 meters) below its current location, providing an aerial reconnaissance program in the southern Satta area.

The rover’s initial scientific journey spans hundreds of skies (or Tuesdays), ending with diligence returning to its landing site. At the time, the diligence had traveled between 1.6 and 3.1 miles (2.5 and 5 kilometers) and may have filled eight of its sample tubes.

Next, diligence travels north, then west, toward the location of its second scientific campaign: the Delta region of the Jesuit Greater. The delta is a fan-shaped remnant of an ancient river and a lake within the Jessero Valley. The area may be particularly rich in carbonate minerals. On Earth, such minerals can preserve the fossil features of ancient microbial life and are associated with biological processes.

More about the mission

An important objective for the work of perseverance on Mars is astronomical biology, which includes the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will classify the planet’s geography and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the red planet, and collect and cache Mars rock and regolith.

Next NASA missions, in collaboration with the ESA (European Space Agency), will send a spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed specimens from the surface and send them back to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 diligence program is part of NASA’s first lunar exploration approach to the moon, which will include Artemis missions to the moon to help prepare for the human exploration of the red planet.

JBL is administered to NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, creating and managing the rover operations of diligence.