NASA's Mars rover makes 2nd attempt to pick up rock sample

US space agency NASA Perseverance rover has likely retrieved a rock sample on Mars at its second attempt. "The data received on September 1, from NASA's Perseverance rover, indicates that the team has achieved its goal of successfully coring a Mars rock. The initial set of images from Mastcam-Z showed the end of a cored rock within the sample tube, NASA said. "The project got its first cored rock under its belt, and that's a phenomenal accomplishment," said Jennifer Trosper, project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California.