NASA's Perseverance rover had one job — and it failed. But true to its name, the rover will try, try again to extract a rock from the surface of Mars.
"While this is not the 'hole-in-one' we hoped for, there is always risk with breaking new ground," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, in a release. "I'm confident we have the right team working this, and we will persevere toward a solution to ensure future success."
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The rover is equipped with a hollow coring bit and a percussive drill at the end of its 7-foot-long robotic arm. All indications showed the sampling attempt was successful, until the rover returned with an empty sample tube.
NASA researchers think that the rock target likely did not react as expected and are analyzing the existing data to understand what went wrong.
"I have been on every Mars rover mission since the beginning, and this planet is always teaching us what we don't know about it," said Jennifer Trosper, project manager for Perseverance at JPL, in the release. "One thing I've found is, it's not unusual to have complications during complex, first-time activities."
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