The Perseverance rover on Mars is in the middle of preparations to sample rocks from Mars. It should start within two weeks.
Washington (AFP) – The Perseverance rover is preparing to sample Martian rocks that will one day be sent back to Earth. The Process It will start in the next two weeks, the US space agency said NASA With.
“We are on the cusp of a new era of planetary research and discovery,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA Administrator. In general, the process, in which many scientific instruments are involved on board “perseverance” (in German about: staying in power), will take about eleven days. Exactly when and how the sample will be sent to Earth is still being planned.
Perseverance landed on Mars in a risky maneuver at the end of February. The approximately $2.5 billion (about 2.2 billion euros) rover took eight years to develop and build. It will look for traces of past microbial life on Mars and research the planet’s climate and geology.
He also brought with him a small helicopter to Mars, which took off for the first time in mid-April – making it the first to fly on another planet. In the meantime, “Ingenuity” (German: ingenuity) has completed a total of nine flights, and its mission, which was originally scheduled to last about 30 days, has been extended.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210722-99-471775 / 2 (dpa)
