LOS ANGELES, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) — NASA’s Perseverance probe deposited a rock sample on Mars on Wednesday, marking a historic early step in the agency’s campaign to return samples for the Red Planet.
NASA said the sample was placed in a titanium tube. Over the next two months, the spacecraft is scheduled to deposit 10 tubes at the site, building the first repository of human samples on another planet.
According to the Sample Return Campaign, the probe will transfer the samples to an automated landing mission that will in turn use a robotic arm to place the samples in a capsule aboard a small rocket that will be launched into Mars orbit, where another spacecraft will pick up the capsule and return it safely to Earth, according to NASA.
The warehouse will act as a backup in case the probe is unable to deliver its samples. In that case, two helicopters will be called in to retrieve the samples and finish the job.
The Perseverance probe was launched from Florida on July 30, 2020, and landed safely on Mars in February 2021.
Astrobiology is one of the main goals of the Perseverance mission to Mars, including the search for possible signs of ancient microbial life.
