A Martian Roundtrip: NASA s Perseverance Rover Sample Tubes
Perseverance s Sample Tubes Ready for Mars: One key activity for NASA s Perseverance Mars rover, which is on its way to the Red Planet, will be to collect samples of Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust) for future return to Earth. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download video ›
Marvels of engineering, the rover s sample tubes must be tough enough to safely bring Red Planet samples on the long journey back to Earth in immaculate condition.
The tubes carried in the belly of NASA s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover are destined to carry the first samples in history from another planet back to Earth. Future scientists will use these carefully selected representatives of Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust) to look for evidence of potential microbial life present in Mars ancient past and to answer other key questions about Mars and its history. Perseverance will land at Mars Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.