NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has started scraping away at an intriguing cluster of layered rocks that may have developed in liquid water.
On its bigger mission to explore for ancient microbes on Mars, the rover has already collected two samples. The objective is to collect a large number of these groupings and store them in a cache for a future sample-return mission to pick up.
"Peering inside to look at something no one's ever seen," the Perseverance Twitter account wrote in a new update."I've abraded a small patch of this rock to remove the surface layer and get a look underneath. Zeroing in on my next target for #SamplingMars."
Perseverance recently took a break due to a solar conjunction, which began on Oct. 2 and occurred when the sun passed between Earth and Mars. NASA's communications with the rover were interrupted as a result of the incident. The rover resumed its hunt for traces of ancient life on Mars after the blackout ended on Oct. 19.
The robot has been exploring certain rock outcrops in the planet's South Sétah region, which are of interest to the rover's science team on Earth, since Oct. 25. Its robotic arm features an abrading instrument that can scrape away at rock layers to explore inside them.
After chiseling away at the rocks, the rover transmitted images that revealed what lay behind the rusty top layer: a slew of granular minerals and sediments.
Rocks in Jezero Crater, which was formerly the site of a lake 3.7 billion years ago, act as an unspoiled ancient time capsule. They can tell scientists about the formation of the rocks and the climate at the period. This could provide us a bird's-eye view of what the lake and its river delta looked like when the planet was warmer and wetter - and potentially habitable.
Since solar conjunction, the rover hasn't traveled very far, with the odometer sitting at 1.66 miles (2.67 kilometers) for several weeks. The engineering marvel Ingenuity Mars helicopter, on the other hand, has already taken to the skies again. Perseverance's work will be contextualized by Ingenuity's overhead photos as the rover focuses in on prospective targets of interest.
On Nov. 6, Martian helicopter completed its 15th Martian flight as part of an extended mission that includes test flying in changing conditions and the harsh environment on Mars, and supporting a land-bound rover with its operations.
