Perseverance drops 50% backup samples on Mars for future missions to bring home
The Perseverance rover, which recently completed its one Martian year of operations on the Red Planet, has successfully dropped five of the 10 sampling tubes with rock cores in them. ONE MARTIAN YEAR FOR PERSEVERANCE The SUV-sized rover marked its one Martian year of operations late last week as it continued to trundle on the floor of the Jazero crater, believed to be home of an ancient lake on the planet. "During its prime mission, our intrepid rover has explored Jezero Crater’s vast floor and collected 18 samples, which may be retrieved and brought to Earth in the coming years!" During its one year of Martian operations, the rover has revealed that rocks in the Jazero crater have interacted with water multiple times over the eons and that some contain organic molecules.
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