The US space agency (NASA) has confirmed that the Perseverance (Perseverance) robotic rover, which pierced a rock of Mars for the second time, managed to take the first stone sample.
The first images last Thursday had raised optimism that the rover drill had managed to take a sample, unlike the first time in early August, when scientists' hopes were finally dashed as the stone sample had turned to dust that fell to the ground around from the drill. New images were needed to reach Earth over the weekend to confirm that this time the sample is now safely inside Perseverance, according to the BBC .
A piece of rock appears inside the drill
This is a historic achievement , as this sample is the rock core collected on another planet and planned to be sent to our planet to be studied by scientists in search of ancient Martian microbial life . The rover – if all goes well – will collect at least 20 such finger-sized stone specimens each year, which are planned to be sent to Earth in the 2030s via a joint Euro-American mission.
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