You’ve heard InSight Lander record the sound of a meteorite striking the Red Planet, now check out NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover scooping up its first two samples of regolith. This broken rock and dust will help scientists better understand the planet and help engineers prepare for future manned missions there.
Once these regolith samples are returned to Earth, scientists will then study them with powerful lab equipment to search for signs of ancient microbial life and improve their understanding of the processes that have shaped the surface of Mars. Rock will be the most prevalent of the samples, but researchers also want to examine regolith to help mitigate some of the challenges astronauts will face on the Red Planet (spacesuits, solar panels, etc.). These samples were collected using a drill bit on the end of Perseverance’s robotic arm, and these two required one that looks like a spike with small holes on one end to gather the loose material.
Everything we learn about the size, shape, and chemistry of regolith grains helps us design and test better tools for future missions. The more data we have, the more realistic our simulants can be,” said Iona Tirona of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
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