![]() ![]() NASA's Mars rover Curiosity used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) to take the images combined into this mosaic of the drill area, called "John Klein." Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS 8, 2013, or Sol 182, Curiosity's 182nd Martian day of operations. ![]() › Full image and caption › See drilling animationĪn animated set of three images from NASA's Curiosity rover shows the rover's drill in action on Feb. And carbonate minerals, which is something that we saw really strongly in these samples, they can preserve organics and signs of life for a very long time.įor more information on Mars Rock Samples: the center of this image from NASA's Curiosity rover is the hole in a rock called "John Klein" where the rover conducted its first sample drilling on Mars. Deltas on earth are really good places for habitability and astrobiology studies because they can preserve signs of life for a really long time and they're usually hotbeds of life activity. Out of this pair we dropped Skyland at our Three Forks example depot. In this rock, you could see that there was textural variation, so you could see different grains, but this carbonate single was really, really strong.Īnd carbonate is that mineral that shows evidence of water alteration of rocks, especially in a possibly habitable environment. There were all of these different minerals sort of clustered together. And so in a lot of the other rocks we looked at previously, there was variation across even a small area. And what made this rock particularly interesting is carbonate was everywhere. So we're out of the crater floor, we're into the Delta front. These samples were really interesting because they're the first ones from the Delta front. Sunanda Sharma: Sample 10 is called “Swift Run'' and sample 11 is “Skyland” and we got them from a rock called “Skinner Ridge” in the Delta Front. The rover characterizes the planet's geology and past climate, paves the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and is the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Learn more about the Mars Sample Return campaign: Ī key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. Read about all the carefully selected samples: Scientists are particularly excited about studying such sedimentary rock samples up close because they form through interaction with liquid water and may have good potential for preserving signs of ancient life. 10 and 11 – “Swift Run” and “Skyland,” the first rock samples collected by the Perseverance rover from an ancient river delta environment on Mars. NASA is teaming with ESA (European Space Agency) on this important endeavor. ![]() The next stage is to get them back for study.Ĭonsidered one of the highest priorities by the scientists in the Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032, Mars Sample Return would be the first mission to return samples from another planet and provides the best opportunity to reveal the early evolution of Mars, including the potential for ancient life. As of late June 2023, NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover has collected and sealed 20 scientifically selected samples inside pristine tubes. Meet two of the Martian samples that have been collected and are awaiting return to Earth as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign. ![]()
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