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Perseverance Mars rover wind sensor damaged by pebbles

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Mars can be an awfully windy place, it turns out.

The Perseverance rover touched down on the Red Planet in February 2021 carrying, among other instruments, a weather station dubbed Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA). That instrument includes two wind sensors that measure speed and direction, among several other sensors that provide weather metrics such as humidity, radiation and air temperature.

Pebbles carried aloft by strong Red Planet gusts recently damaged one of the wind sensors, but MEDA can still keep track of wind at its landing area in Jezero Crater, albeit with decreased sensitivity, José Antonio Rodriguez Manfredi, principal investigator of MEDA, told Space.com.

Related: 1 year later, Ingenuity helicopter still going strong on Mars

“Right now, the sensor is diminished in its capabilities, but it still provides speed and direction magnitudes,” Rodriguez Manfredi, a scientist at the Spanish Astrobiology Center in Madrid, wrote in an e-mail. “The whole team is now re-tuning the retrieval procedure to get more accuracy from the undamaged detector readings.”

The two approximately ruler-sized wind sensors on Perseverance are encircled by six individual detectors that aim to give accurate readings from any direction, according to materials (opens in new tab) from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, which manages the rover.

Each of the two main wind sensors is attached to a boom that can unfold to move the sensors away from the rover as it drives, because the car-sized Perseverance does affect wind currents by its own movements through the thin Martian atmosphere, JPL officials stated.

The Perseverance rover deploys one of its wind sensors on the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) during practice activities on Earth in 2019. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Like all instruments on Perseverance, the wind sensor was designed with redundancy and protection in mind, Rodriguez Manfredi noted. “But of course, there is a limit to everything.”

And for an instrument like MEDA, the limit is more challenging, since the sensors must be exposed to environmental conditions in order to record wind parameters. But when stronger-than-anticipated winds lifted larger pebbles than expected, the combination resulted in damage to some of the detector elements.

“Neither the predictions nor the experience we had from previous missions foresaw such strong winds, nor so much loose material of that nature,” Rodriguez Manfredi said. (He is also principal investigator of another temperature and wind sensor on the NASA InSight lander, on the Red Planet since November 2018 and expected to end its mission this year.)

He added it was was ironic that the sensors were damaged by wind, or “precisely by what we went looking for.”

Perseverance landed on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, and, along with a helicopter called Ingenuity, is exploring an ancient river delta that may have been rich in microbes billions of years ago.

Besides measuring wind, weather and rock composition, the rover is picking up the most promising material to cache for a future sample return-mission aiming to send samples to Earth in the 2030s.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook. 



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Perseverance Rover Has Shaken Out the Pebbles Stuck in Its Sampling System

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NASA’s Perseverance team announced that the Mars rover managed to dislodge the pebbles clogging its sample cache system, a problem that has vexed the robot since last month.

The sampling caching system is arguably the most vital component of the Perseverance mission, as analyzing Martian rocks in detail will contribute to all of NASA’s Mars goals: figuring out if life ever existed on the planet, understanding its ancient climate and geology, and preparing for human exploration there. The samples collected by Perseverance will be brought to Earth in the early 2030s, if all goes according to plan.

But this is Mars, so rarely does a plan not encounter a snag or two. In Perseverance’s case, the most recent issue occurred when the rover was caching a sample it cored from a rock called Issole. Some rock fell out of the sample tube as it was being put into the bit carousel, a lazy-Susan-like contraption meant to store the rock samples on the rover. (The rover has 43 sample tubes aboard, seven of which have been filled so far).

As it turned out (and as some of our readers suggested), the rocks finally came loose after some shaking. First, the rover rotated the bit carousel, a move that cleared the two rocks that stopped the rover from processing the Issole sample. To keep track of the rover’s attempt, mission controllers studied the differences between images taken before and after the corrective actions. The ejected pebbles were picked up by the rover’s Mastcam-Z camera.

Then, the team turned to removing the remaining rock inside the sample tube, so that they could save that tube for another coring attempt. “We essentially shook the heck out of it for 208 seconds—by means of the percussive function on the drill,” reported Rick Welch, a deputy project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a recent blog post. The maneuver was a success, and the tube will now be reused.

But two smaller pebbles were still stuck. The NASA team determined they wouldn’t jam the rover, though, and figured they may shake loose through some driving. Indeed, the Perseverance team reported on January 25 that the rover backed up onto some nearby rocks, tilting the robot, and then twisted one wheel. In that process, the remaining rocks fell out of the $2.7 billion vehicle.

Now that Perseverance has passed the stones, it can return to the 2-year project at hand: collecting more rocks, the right way.

More: NASA Has a Plan to Dislodge the Pebbles Stuck in Perseverance Rover



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NASA Perseverance Rover Spits Out Martian Pebbles Stuck in Its Belly

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Mars has a harsh environment that constantly throws dust storms at spacecraft, “choking” them and hindering operations. But that’s not the only thing that can cause problems for rovers on the Red Planet. Sometimes, debris can get stuck in their components, and that’s a completely new challenge that NASA’s team has to solve.

A few weeks ago, the Perseverance rover had successfully drilled into a Martian rock and collected a sample (the 6th rock core ever collected by a spacecraft on another planet). The rover did what it knew best after extraction – it went to store it in a sample tube inside its belly.

That’s where Perseverance stores all the equipment that it needs to collect samples, including a rotating drill carousel, which is a wheel with different drill bits. Next to this carousel are 43 sample tubes that await to be filled with fragments of the alien world.

However, something went wrong on December 29th: pebbles blocked the transfer of the drill bit and sample tube into the carousel. As a result, the rover stopped its scientific operations. Since then, the Perseverance team has tried to come up with a solution to remove the obstructing chunks of debris.

Recently, the team commanded the rover to rotate the bit carousel. That effectively removed two of four rock fragments stuck in there. That means there are still two more left. But according to NASA, the way they are positioned does not seem to affect the machine’s operations.

Additionally, the sample tube with the rover’s latest partial core sample was emptied on January 17th. Perseverance used its robotic arm to position the drill with the tube’s open end above the ground and rotate it. The camera on its head captured some of the material that fell out. Luckily, now the sample tube can be reused.

Currently, the team is planning the next steps that must be taken. Hopefully, the rover will resume its operations soon and will get back to drilling into the rocks from the Jezero Crater.



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NASA Mars Perseverance Rover: Ejecting Martian Pebbles

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Before and After Perseverance Sample Tube Shake: An animated GIF depicts the Martian surface below the Perseverance rover, showing the results of the January 15, 2022, percussive drill test to clear cored-rock fragments from one of the rover’s sample tubes. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The team has made good progress implementing the initial recovery steps outlined last week. Our first success: The upper two pebbles were ejected from the bit carousel during a test. This is great news, as these small chunks of debris are believed to be the cause of the unsuccessful transfer of the drill bit and sample tube into the carousel back on December 29. Our second success: We appear to have removed most – if not all – of the cored rock that remained in Sample Tube 261.

Here is the latest…

Pebbles in Bit Carousel

On Monday, January 17, the WATSON camera imaged the bit carousel and its pebbles – and also took images underneath the rover to establish just what was down there before any recovery strategies were applied. Later that same Martian day, we rotated the bit carousel about 75 degrees before returning it back to its original position. WATSON imaging showed the two upper pebbles were ejected during the process. Tuesday night we also received the second set of under-rover images, which show two new pebbles on the surface, indicating the ejected pebbles made it fully through bit carousel and back onto the surface of

Rotating Perseverance’s Bit Carousel: An annotated GIF depicts a rotational test of Perseverance’s bit carousel in which two of four rock fragments were ejected. The five images that make up the GIF were obtained by the rover’s WATSON imager on January 17, 2022. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

The other two pebbles, located below the bit carousel, remain. It is interesting to note that some of the initial trials performed on our testbed here on Earth indicate that the location of the two leftover pebbles may not pose a significant problem with bit carousel operation, but we are continuing analysis and testing to confirm this.

Remaining Sample in Tube

On Saturday, January 15, the team performed an experiment using Perseverance’s rotary-percussive drill. After the robotic arm oriented the drill with Sample Tube 261’s open end angled around 9 degrees below horizontal, the rover’s drill spindle rotated and then extended. Our remarkable Mastcam-Z instrument (which has video capability previously used to document some of Ingenuity’s flights) captured the event. The imagery from the experiment shows a small amount of sample material falling out of the drill bit/sample tube. Later that same Martian day, the bit was positioned vertically over “Issole” (the rock that provided this latest core) to see if additional sample would fall out under the force of gravity. However, Mastcam-Z imaging of 261’s interior after this subsequent maneuver showed it still contained some sample.

Perseverance Expels Rock Fragments: A portion of a cored-rock sample is ejected from the rotary percussive drill on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. The imagery was collected by the rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument on January 15, 2022. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Given that some of the sample had already been lost, the team decided it was time to return the rest of the sample to Mars and hopefully completely empty the tube to ready it for potentially another sampling attempt. On Monday, January 17, the team commanded another operation of the rotary percussive drill in an attempt to dislodge more material from the tube. With the tube’s open end still pointed towards the surface, we essentially shook the heck out of it for 208 seconds – by means of the percussive function on the drill. Mastcam-Z imagery taken after the event shows that multiple pieces of sample were dumped onto the surface. Is Tube 261 clear of rock sample? We have new Mastcam-Z images looking down the drill bit into the sample container that indicate little if any debris from the cored-rock sample remains. The sample tube has been cleared for reuse by the project.

Perseverance’s Sample Tube Looks Clean: This image, taken by the Mastcam-Z camera aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on January 20, 2022, shows the rover successfully expelled the remaining large fragments of cored rock from a sample tube held in its drill. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Future Moves

The team is still reviewing the data and discussing next steps. Like all Mars missions, we’ve had some unexpected challenges. Each time, the team and our rover have risen to the occasion. We expect the same result this time – by taking incremental steps, analyzing results, and then moving on, we plan to fully resolve this challenge and get back to exploration and sampling at Jezero Crater.

Written by Rick Welch, Deputy Project Manager at (function(d, s, id){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.6"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));

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Ejecting Mars’ Pebbles – NASA Mars

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The team has made good progress implementing the initial recovery steps outlined in last week’s blog. Our first success: The upper two pebbles were ejected from the bit carousel during a test. This is great news, as these small chunks of debris are believed to be the cause of the unsuccessful transfer of the drill bit and sample tube into the carousel back on Dec. 29. Our second success: We appear to have removed most – if not all – of the cored rock that remained in Sample Tube 261.

Here is the latest…

Pebbles in Bit Carousel

Rotating Perseverance’s Bit Carousel: An annotated GIF depicts a rotational test of Perseverance’s bit carousel in which two of four rock fragments were ejected. The five images that make up the GIF were obtained by the rover’s WATSON imager on Jan. 17, 2022. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Download image ›

On Monday, Jan. 17, the WATSON camera imaged the bit carousel and its pebbles – and also took images underneath the rover to establish just what was down there before any recovery strategies were applied. Later that same Martian day, we rotated the bit carousel about 75 degrees before returning it back to its original position. WATSON imaging showed the two upper pebbles were ejected during the process. Tuesday night we also received the second set of under-rover images, which show two new pebbles on the surface, indicating the ejected pebbles made it fully through bit carousel and back onto the surface of Mars as planned.

The other two pebbles, located below the bit carousel, remain. It is interesting to note that some of the initial trials performed on our testbed here on Earth indicate that the location of the two leftover pebbles may not pose a significant problem with bit carousel operation, but we are continuing analysis and testing to confirm this.

Remaining Sample in Tube

Perseverance Expels Rock Fragments: A portion of a cored-rock sample is ejected from the rotary percussive drill on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. The imagery was collected by the rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument on Jan. 15, 2022. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS. Download image ›

On Saturday, Jan. 15, the team performed an experiment using Perseverance’s rotary-percussive drill. After the robotic arm oriented the drill with Sample Tube 261’s open end angled around 9 degrees below horizontal, the rover’s drill spindle rotated and then extended. Our remarkable Mastcam-Z instrument (which has video capability previously used to document some of Ingenuity’s flights) captured the event. The imagery from the experiment shows a small amount of sample material falling out of the drill bit/sample tube. Later that same Martian day, the bit was positioned vertically over “Issole” (the rock that provided this latest core) to see if additional sample would fall out under the force of gravity. However, Mastcam-Z imaging of 261’s interior after this subsequent maneuver showed it still contained some sample.  

Perseverance’s Sample Tube Looks Clean: This image, taken by the Mastcam-Z camera aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on Jan. 20, 2022, shows the rover successfully expelled the remaining large fragments of cored rock from a sample tube held in its drill. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS. Download image ›

Given that some of the sample had already been lost, the team decided it was time to return the rest of the sample to Mars and hopefully completely empty the tube to ready it for potentially another sampling attempt. On Monday, Jan. 17, the team commanded another operation of the rotary percussive drill in an attempt to dislodge more material from the tube. With the tube’s open end still pointed towards the surface, we essentially shook the heck out of it for 208 seconds – by means of the percussive function on the drill. Mastcam-Z imagery taken after the event shows that multiple pieces of sample were dumped onto the surface. Is Tube 261 clear of rock sample? We have new Mastcam-Z images looking down the drill bit into the sample container that indicate little if any debris from the cored-rock sample remains. The sample tube has been cleared for reuse by the project.

Future Moves

The team is still reviewing the data and discussing next steps. Like all Mars missions, we’ve had some unexpected challenges. Each time, the team and our rover have risen to the occasion. We expect the same result this time – by taking incremental steps, analyzing results, and then moving on, we plan to fully resolve this challenge and get back to exploration and sampling at Jezero Crater.

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NASA Works to Dislodge Pebbles Stuck in Perseverance Rover

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NASA engineers have executed a plan to clear the Perseverance rover of some debris that has prevented it from properly caching rock samples. The team expects to find out how the clean-up mission went later today.

The issue arose on December 29, when a rock sample from Mars (taken from a rock named Issole) couldn’t be properly moved from the coring bit that drilled into the rock to the long-term sample storage on the rover. The storage is a bit like a lazy Susan; it’s a carousel of samples that rotates every time a sample tube is filled.

The rover sent data to Earth indicating there was more resistance in the sample’s transition than expected, and when the NASA team got images of the issue, they realized that bits of the rock sample had fallen out of the tube and onto the bit carousel. (The rover is capable of functioning despite these jam-ups, but as the machine is still relatively new on Mars, NASA wants to treat the machinery as nicely as they can.) So a plan was drafted to get the little Martian pebbles out of Perseverance’s guts.

The team is rotating the bit carousel to shake the pebbles loose. They’re taking data and imagery of Perseverance’s actions as they happen, to track whether debris has actually moved. Last week, the team analyzed and imaged the rocky floor beneath the rover, so if the rover’s subsequent images show additional material on the ground, the team will know the carousel-rotation approach was a success. NASA expects those data and images today.

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“If I had to ballpark it, I would estimate we’ll be at our current location another week or so – or even more if we decide to re-sample Issole,” wrote Jennifer Trosper, a project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a NASA blog post. Trosper noted that the rock was of scientific interest, so it’s likely that Perseverance may give Issole another go.

This pebble problem was not the first blip in Perseverance’s sampling schedule. The rover’s first sampling attempt came up empty, so NASA had to try some alternative methods to actually begin the rock collection. The rover has 43 sample tubes, seven of which have so far been filed. Around the end of the decade, those tubes may be heading to Earth, in the extraordinarily ambitious Mars Sample Return mission.

More: Your Guide to NASA’s Life-Hunting Mars Rover, Perseverance

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NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover runs into another snag: pebbles

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NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has run into another snag on its mission to find evidence of ancient microbial life. 

In continuing to collect Martian rock and regolith samples, which will eventually return to Earth, the rover encountered a “new challenge.” 

STUDY NIXES MARS LIFE IN METEORITE FOUND IN ANTARCTICA

“Seems some pebble-sized debris is obstructing my robotic arm from handing off the tube for sealing/storage,” the Perseverance team tweeted earlier this month. 

Now, NASA’s Mars 2020 mission team says it has a plan to deal with the obstruction from the rover’s bit carousel: operational sequences developed and tested over the previous weekend and last week.

“With terrestrial experimentation complete, we have begun executing our mitigation strategy on Mars,” Jennifer Trosper, the project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), wrote Friday. “On Jan. 12 we did a detailed image survey of the ground below Perseverance. This was done so we would have a good idea what rocks and pebbles already exist down there before some more – from our bit carousel – join them in the not-so-distant future. “

With the imaging, the team embarked on a maneuver with the robotic arm she “never imagined we would perform – ever.”

The contents of its latest cored-rock sample – the sixth rock core – will be returned to the surface of Mars in what Trosper called a “fairly straightforward process.” 

WATER DETECTED BELOW MARTIAN SURFACE, RESEARCHERS SAY

The team sent commands up to the rover’s robotic arm on Thursday and Friday.

“I imagine your next question is, ‘Why are you dumping out the contents of the sample tube?’ The answer is that, at present, we are not certain how much cored rock continues to reside in Tube 261. And while this rock will never make my holiday card list, the science team really seems to like it. So if our plans go well with our pebble mitigation (see below), we may very well attempt to core ‘Issole’ (the rock from which this sample was taken) again,” she continued. 

Further commands were to be sent Friday to order the rover to do two rotation tests of the bit carousel that will execute this weekend. 

“Our expectations are that these rotations – and any subsequent pebble movement – will help guide our team, providing them the necessary information on how to proceed. Still, to be thorough, we are also commanding the rover to take a second set of under-chassis images, just in case one or more pebbles happen to pop free,” Trosper continued. 

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She said the team expects the imagery and data from the two tests to be sent to Earth by Jan. 18.

“The Perseverance team is exploring every facet of the issue to ensure that we not only get rid of this rocky debris but also prevent a similar reoccurrence during future sampling. Essentially, we are leaving no rock unturned in the pursuit of these four pebbles,” Trosper concluded.

Perseverance also ran into an issue during its first sampling attempt in August.



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Pebbles Before Mountains – NASA Mars

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NASA’s Mars 2020 mission team has been working methodically and thoroughly, making good progress on understanding the best path forward to remove the uninvited pebbles from Perseverance’s bit carousel. Over the previous weekend, and earlier this week, operational sequences were developed and tested to remove these rocky interlopers.

With terrestrial experimentation complete, we have begun executing our mitigation strategy on Mars. On Jan. 12 we did a detailed image survey of the ground below Perseverance. This was done so we would have a good idea what rocks and pebbles already exist down there before some more – from our bit carousel – join them in the not-so-distant future.  

With this below-chassis, preliminary imaging, in hand, the team embarked on a maneuver with our robotic arm I never imagined we would perform – ever. Simply put, we are returning the remaining contents of Sample Tube 261 (our latest cored-rock sample) back to its planet of origin. Although this scenario was never designed or planned for prior to launch, it turns out dumping a core from an open tube is a fairly straightforward process (at least during Earth testing). We sent commands up yesterday, and later on today the rover’s robotic arm will simply point the open end of the sample tube toward the surface of Mars and let gravity do the rest.

I imagine your next question is, “Why are you dumping out the contents of the sample tube?” The answer is that, at present, we are not certain how much cored rock continues to reside in Tube 261. And while this rock will never make my holiday card list, the science team really seems to like it. So if our plans go well with our pebble mitigation (see below), we may very well attempt to core “Issole” (the rock from which this sample was taken) again.

Which brings me to next steps in our pebble mitigation strategy: we’re sending up commands to the rover later today, ordering it to do two rotation tests of the bit carousel. These tests (the first, a small rotation; the second, larger) will execute this weekend. Our expectations are that these rotations – and any subsequent pebble movement – will help guide our team, providing them the necessary information on how to proceed. Still, to be thorough, we are also commanding the rover to take a second set of under-chassis images, just in case one or more pebbles happen to pop free.   

We expect the data and imagery from these two rotation tests to be sent to Earth by next Tuesday, Jan. 18. From there, we’ll analyze and further refine our plans. If I had to ballpark it, I would estimate we’ll be at our current location another week or so – or even more if we decide to re-sample Issole.

So there you have it. The Perseverance team is exploring every facet of the issue to ensure that we not only get rid of this rocky debris but also prevent a similar reoccurrence during future sampling. Essentially, we are leaving no rock unturned in the pursuit of these four pebbles.

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Perseverance Has Run Into a Problem on Mars: Pebbles

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A small pile of pebbles is clogging up the Perseverance Mars rover’s operations.  

The rover, which is collecting rock samples for eventual return to Earth, began to struggle on Dec. 29, after extracting a core from a rock the mission team nicknamed “Issole.”

 

According to a NASA blog, the problem occurred in the device that transfers the drill bit and sample out of the rover’s drill arm and into a carousel inside the rover’s chassis for storage.

During the transfer, sensors within the rover recorded a higher-than-normal amount of friction at an unexpected point in the process. 

The rover shut down and sent an alert back to Earth. Operators requested more data from the rover, but Perseverance took about a week to respond due to the mismatch between Martian days and Earth days, which restricts how quickly data can transfer.

Once the data arrived, the team ordered the rover to act as its own mechanic by removing the drill bit and undocking its drilling arm in order to photograph its own innards.

The resulting images revealed the problem: a small pile of pebbles inside the carousel. These bits of debris fell off the sample during the transfer process, blocking the drill bit from sitting properly inside the bit carousel.

(NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

The carousel is designed to operate even in the presence of some debris, but NASA operators are taking their time to work out a solution.

“This is not the first curve Mars has thrown at us – just the latest,” Louise Jandura, chief engineer for sampling & caching at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, wrote in the blog post.

 

“One thing we’ve found is that when the engineering challenge is hundreds of millions of miles away (Mars is currently 215 million miles from Earth [346 million kilometers]), it pays to take your time and be thorough. We are going to do that here,” she added.

The Perseverance rover landed on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021. It is exploring Jezero Crater, which was once a river delta.

The goal is to take rock and soil samples to assess the crater for signs that it once hosted life. The rover has equipment that can do some analysis on board, but the hope is that a future Mars mission will be able to retrieve and return the rover’s rock samples to Earth. 

This is not the first time the Perseverance team has had to overcome a sampling hiccup. The rover’s very first attempt to collect a rock sample failed. But the rover soon succeeded in collecting a pair of rock samples in quick succession.

Related content:

Mars on the cheap: Scientists working to revolutionize access to the Red Planet

Voyager to Mars rover: NASA’s 10 greatest innovations

Seeing things on Mars: A history of Martian illusions 

This article was originally published by Live Science. Read the original article here.

 

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NASA’s Perseverance rover is clogged up with pebbles

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A small pile of pebbles is clogging up the Perseverance Mars rover’s operations. 

The rover, which is collecting rock samples for eventual return to Earth, began to struggle on Dec. 29, after extracting a core from a rock the mission team nicknamed “Issole.” According to a NASA blog, the problem occurred in the device that transfers the drill bit and sample out of the rover’s drill arm and into a carousel inside the rover’s chassis for storage. During the transfer, sensors within the rover recorded a higher-than-normal amount of friction at an unexpected point in the process. 

The rover shut down and sent an alert back to Earth. Operators requested more data from the rover, but Perseverance took about a week to respond due to the mismatch between Martian days and Earth days, which restricts how quickly data can transfer. Once the data arrived, the team ordered the rover to act as its own mechanic by removing the drill bit and undocking its drilling arm in order to photograph its own innards. 

Related: Perseverance rover collects 2nd Mars sample (photos)

The resulting images revealed the problem: a small pile of pebbles inside the carousel. These bits of debris fell off the sample during the transfer process, blocking the drill bit from sitting properly inside the bit carousel. 

The carousel is designed to operate even in the presence of some debris, but NASA operators are taking their time to work out a solution. 

“This is not the first curve Mars has thrown at us — just the latest,” Louise Jandura, chief engineer for sampling & caching at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, wrote in the blog post. “One thing we’ve found is that when the engineering challenge is hundreds of millions of miles away (Mars is currently 215 million miles from Earth [346 million kilometers]), it pays to take your time and be thorough. We are going to do that here,” she added.

The Perseverance rover landed on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021. It is exploring Jezero Crater, which was once a river delta. The goal is to take rock and soil samples to assess the crater for signs that it once hosted life. The rover has equipment that can do some analysis on board, but the hope is that a future Mars mission will be able to retrieve and return the rover’s rock samples to Earth. 

This is not the first time the Perseverance team has had to overcome a sampling hiccup. The rover’s very first attempt to collect a rock sample failed. But the rover soon succeeded in collecting a pair of rock samples in quick succession. 

Originally published on Live Science

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