Thanks to the Perseverance rover, once again good news and interesting news are coming from Mars. NASA’s rover has collected the 12th rock core sample and placed a small piece of the Red Planet in a tube for preservation for future study. However, the rover team also discovered some mysterious objects stuck in the sampling system.
The rover takes close-up photos of sampling system parts as part of its post-sampling routine. Two small pieces were visible in these images, according to the rover update notice written by NASA JPL Project Manager Art Thompson. One was a small object on the core bit, and the other was a small hair-like object that appeared on the drill sleeve. This hair-like object is easily seen in the August 4 photo and is highlighted in the shared image.
The Perseverance team is currently studying where these objects came from and whether they could be fragments from the rover itself or from the entry, descent and landing (EDL) system.
Perseverance has found many different mysterious objects so far, and had recently found an object that looked like a ball of string. However, it was understood that this object was a piece of net that remained from the EDL system and descended 2 kilometers away.
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