Perseverance Rover Successfully Collects Third Sample | Martian Rock Contains Olivine

The Perseverance rover has collected its third sample from a Martian rock. The announcement was posted in a tweet posted by the rover's team on its official Twitter account. The Perseverance rover has successfully collected its third sample, as announced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The rock from which the Martian rover collected the sample is loaded with a mineral called olivine that can actually be found in our planet's upper mantle.

The third successful rock sample collection follows the first two successful ones that the Perseverance was able to do in September. The first two rock samples were collected from a rock that has been nicknamed Rochette.

Perseverance Rover Collects Third Sample

The Perseverance rover has collected its third sample from a Martian rock. The announcement was made in a tweet posted by the rover's team on its official Twitter account.

"My latest sample is from a rock loaded with the greenish mineral olivine," the tweet reads.

According to a report by Space, Olivine "is a magnesium iron silicate that constitutes most of Earth's upper mantle." Per the tweet published on the Perseverance rover's account, the team behind the rover has several theories on how the olivine ended up in the rock.

The Perseverance rover is currently exploring an area of Mars known as Séítah. Séítah is located within the Jezero Crater of the Red Planet.

First Two Successful Rock Sample Collection

The Mars rover's first two successful rock sample collections took place in September. Both samples were taken from a rock that has been named Rochette.

The first rock sample took two tries to get right after the Perseverance rover failed in its first attempt. The rock sample collected during the first attempt proved too crumbly to be studied.

The second Martian rock collection took place just a couple of days after the success of the first collection. The rover got it right in its first attempt.

The Perseverance Mars Rover

The Perseverance rover is part of NASA's Mars 2020 Exploration Program along with the Ingenuity helicopter. Both spacecraft were launched to space on July 20, 2020, in Florida. The helicopter was tucked inside the Perseverance when they touched down on Mars in February.

The rover acted as a support for the Ingenuity helicopter during the early part of its mission. However, the Perseverance's real goal is to collect rock samples from Mars that will eventually be sent back to Earth to be studied.

This is expected to take place sometime in the 2030s. A joint mission between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) will be tasked with bringing back all the rock samples that the Perseverance rover has collected.

The other mission of the Mars rover is to look for signs of life on the Red Planet.

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Written by Isabella James