The NASA Perseverance Rover Begins Constructing a Sample Depot – A Storage Site for Rock and Soil Tubes on Mars.
On December 16, NASA announced that the Mars rover Perseverance is set to build the “first extraterrestrial sample depot.” This depot will serve as a location where the rover will drop off the rock and soil tubes it has collected. This effort is central to the Mars Sample Return (MSR) – a collaborative mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA aimed at returning Martian soil samples to Earth in the 2030s.
The location for the Three Forks sample depot is visible in the distance in this image taken by the Perseverance rover. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS)
Ideally, Perseverance will still be operational in the Jezero Crater when the MSR vehicles arrive. If so, the rover could directly deliver the samples. However, the mission is critical, and the operational lifespan of Perseverance cannot be guaranteed due to the harsh environment of the Red Planet. The sample depot will serve as an alternative solution for MSR to collect the tubes. Perseverance collects samples in pairs, allowing it to drop one tube at the depot while retaining the other from the pair.
The site chosen for the sample depot needs to be flat and free of rocks – a challenging requirement on a planet known for its rocky terrain. Ultimately, NASA selected a location named Three Forks.
The MSR mission will feature two small helicopters to collect samples, inspired by the success of the Ingenuity helicopter, which accompanies Perseverance. These two MSR helicopters will require a safe landing site to retrieve the rock and soil tubes.
Perseverance will drop 10 sample tubes from its belly onto the Martian surface. The sturdy titanium tubes will fall from a height of 88.8 cm. “We can’t just drop them in a big pile because the helicopters are designed to interact with one tube at a time,” stated Richard Cook, program manager at MSR. According to NASA, the tubes will be placed in a complex zigzag pattern spaced 5 to 15 meters apart.
Perseverance is expected to begin constructing the sample depot in the coming days and will spend over a month completing the task. This process will be meticulously documented to ensure the tubes can be located even if Martian winds bury them in dust.
Once the sample depot is completed, Perseverance will climb to the top of an ancient river delta that has long since dried up. NASA hopes to find more intriguing rocks to sample in that area.
