{"id":25362,"date":"2022-12-22T16:47:49","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T16:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/22\/perseverance-rover-drops-off-first-sample-tube-on-mars-the-register\/"},"modified":"2022-12-22T16:47:49","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T16:47:49","slug":"perseverance-rover-drops-off-first-sample-tube-on-mars-the-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/22\/perseverance-rover-drops-off-first-sample-tube-on-mars-the-register\/","title":{"rendered":"Perseverance rover drops off first sample tube on Mars \u2022 The Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A titanium tube that looks a bit like a steampunk telescope has been dropped off by the plucky Perseverance rover, stuffed with a Mars rock sample that NASA astrobiologists are hoping might reveal traces of ancient microbial life.<\/p>\n

But before the most difficult part \u2013 sending spacecraft from Earth to Mars to collect the sealed samples and return them to Earth for analysis by 2033 \u2013 the team had to make sure the multibillion-dollar mission didn’t shoot itself in the foot by crushing the tube beneath the rover’s wheels.<\/p>\n

NASA said last night:<\/p>\n

Not a bad idea.<\/p>\n

Engineers working on the rover also wanted to make sure the sample wouldn’t land standing on its end with the tube perpendicular to the surface. The space agency’s Jet Propulsion Lab confessed that this had occurred just under 5 percent of the time when they tested the drop using Perseverance’s “Earthly twin” in JPL’s Mars Yard, including a cute gif<\/a> showing this happening.<\/p>\n

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