Because Of A Trivial Thing, The Perseverance Robot Has Problems While Storing Mars Rocks

The Perseverance Robot is experiencing interference while carrying out a mission. (photo: doc. NASA)

JAKARTA - NASA's rover, Perseverance, has crashed while collecting rock samples from Mars, with some pebble-sized debris blocking the system.

At first all went well, on December 29, Perseverance drilled a rock dubbed Issole and took a sample of it.

"However, during the transfer of the bit containing the sample into the bit rover carousel (which stores the bit and passes the tube to the tube processing hardware inside the rover), our sensor exhibits an anomaly," said Chief Engineer, Louise Jandura for sampling.

Upon noticing an unusual problem during the sampling process, the rover stopped its sampling activity.

As the rover team revealed on the official Twitter account @NASAPerseverance, the result is debris preventing the robotic arm from properly handing the tube containing the sample for sealing and storage.

I recently captured my sixth rock core and have encountered a new challenge. Seems some pebble-sized debris is obstructing my robotic arm from handing off the tube for sealing/storage. More images and data to come. #SamplingMars takes perseverance.Blog: https://t.co/flabIslR21 pic.twitter.com/sfaxuu0HNG

— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) January 8, 2022

Quoting Engadget, Monday, January 10, this storage of rock samples from Mars is very important for NASA, because it will eventually return the samples to Earth, then conduct research to see how Mars was in the past.

This is not the end of sample collection. Jandura said the carousel was designed to walk with debris. However, this was the first time the team had had to clear debris, and Jandura said operators would need time to remove the gravel in a controlled and orderly manner.

This isn't the first time Perseverance has run into trouble. The robot failed to collect samples during its first attempt, while the Ingenuity helicopter suffered a processing error during its sixth flight.

However, this is a challenge in missions on Mars. When Mars is so far from Earth, the fix isn't always easy or sure.