Debris has become lodged in the sample system of the Mars rover Perseverance. NASA has a lead to try to get rid of.
Some rock debris gives NASA a hard time. Its Perseverance rover, which is surveying Mars to take samples, encounters a problem with its 6th rock sample. Luckily, the space agency is implementing a solution to try to fix this problem. More details were released on January 14, 2022.
” I have a plan to get rid of the pebbles that blocked the transfer of my last sample tube. With luck, they should fall to the ground below. Here’s a ‘before’ photo of where they might land “, we read in a tweet from the account @NASAPersevere, on which the agency has become accustomed to making its rover speak in the first person.
These few pieces of debris got lodged in the carousel system, which provides the different drills to the rover (each one is adapted to a type of soil). These pieces must have fallen out of the tube that had been filled by Perseverance. They prevent the rover’s robotic arm from transferring the tube, allowing it to be sealed and stored. For several days, NASA tested different procedures on Earth to try to remove these unwanted pebbles. The strategy then began to be implemented on Mars.
Return to sender
It began on January 12, with a survey of the ground beneath Perseverance, thanks to images taken by the rover. This way, NASA can anticipate where the debris will fall. Then, a maneuver that had never been considered was undertaken: it consists in emptying the tube of its sample. ” We are returning the remaining contents of Sample Tube 261 to its home planet “, sums up the press release from the agency. This possibility had never been planned for the Mars 2020 mission.
Nevertheless, NASA seems quite confident, as its tests on Earth show that emptying the tube (which is still open) should be quite easy. The commands have already been sent to Perseverance: it was expected to use its robotic arm to point the top of the tube (the end that is open) towards the ground. With gravity, its contents must fall without difficulty.
Later, the rover must perform two tests to rotate its carousel, the first rotation being quite small, the second larger. This should help NASA to see how to proceed, with the possible movements of the debris. Perseverance must also take photos of the ground again, in case pieces have already fallen.
The images from these tests are expected on January 18 by NASA. Moreover, the space agency does not rule out the possibility of digging again in the same rock later, so that Perseverance still leaves with a piece of this target.