NASA's science robot Perseverance Rover has collected the first sample of Martian rock, a core from Jezero Crater slightly thicker than a pencil. Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California on Monday received data that confirmed the historic milestone.
The core is now enclosed in an airtight titanium sample tube, making it available for retrieval in the future. Through the Mars Sample Return campaign, NASA and European Space Agency are planning a series of future missions to return the rover's sample tubes to Earth for closer study. These samples would be the first set of scientifically identified and selected materials returned to earth from another planet.
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