NASA Tests Earth Rocks To Help Perseverance Collect Tricky Mars Samples

To learn more about rocks like Roubion, NASA researchers visited the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve in California. They found rocks there that were somewhat solid, like Roubion, but which could also crumble, and collected half a dozen samples to bring back to the lab for further research.

“It was very physical work,” said chief engineer for sampling and caching Louise Jandura. “We were chipping away with rock hammers and crowbars. A couple rocks were big enough that it took all five of us holding on to a stretched-out canvas to get it into the bed of our truck.”

The rocks were taken back to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where the Perseverance rover was built and is managed, to be tested with drills. The team there found these tricky rocks had to be approached with care, as even small changes to the force or rate of percussion of the drill could cause the rocks to crumble. However, they were able to gather invaluable information on how to drill into these tricky targets.

So far, Perseverance has collected six samples, and the sampling process has mostly gone smoothly. But having this experience of drilling into tricky rock types should mean the team is prepared for more difficult samples in the future.