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  • BBC Sky at Night

    BULLETIN

    Oct 21, 2021 5 minutes

    Perseverance pays off

    The Martian rover collected a rock sample on its second try

    NASA’s Perseverance rover has lived up to its name by successfully cacheing its first sample of Martian rock on Monday 6 September, after a failed attempt back in August. To prevent a second disappointment, the rover used its CacheCam to visually confirm there was Martian material in the sample tube after drilling. Another sample was acquired from the same rock on 8 September.

    The ultimate goal of the mission is to learn how Mars’s climate changed over time, as well as looking for signs of past life by cacheing samples of rock that will be returned to Earth by a future mission. Perseverance is currently exploring Jezero Crater, which was once home to an ancient lake. It’s uncertain

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