English: NASA’s Perseverance rover deposited the fourth of several samples onto the Martian surface on Jan. 4, 2023, the 666rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

Figure A is a close-up of the sample tube on the ground.

Perseverance has been taking duplicate samples from each rock target the mission selects. The rover currently has all 18 samples taken so far in its belly, including one atmospheric sample. Based on the architecture of the Mars Sample Return campaign, the rover would deliver samples to a robotic lander carrying a small rocket that would blast them off to space.

The depot will serve as a backup if Perseverance can’t deliver its samples. In that case, a pair of Sample Recovery Helicopters would be called upon to pick up the sample tubes and deliver them to the lander.

A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency’s by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover. WATSON and ACI were built by Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) in San Diego and are operated jointly by MSSS and JPL.

For more about Perseverance: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

Credit

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS