Perseverance, Mars 2020 Rover : Updates

[ccdengr]

As I recall, MOXIE was a baseline requirement. Perseverance was put into the budget at a time of major budget cuts to the planetary program. I believe that it was OMB that put it the sample collection rover in the budget to ensure that JPL retained its capabilities by having a major project. OMB specified that MOXIE had to be a part of the mission.

The OMB thing doesn't sound familiar to me at all, do you have a cite?

Mars2020 evolved from the earlier MAX-C mission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Astrobiology_Explorer-Cacher .  MOXIE was not competed.  It was paid for by the Space Technology Mission Directorate so at least it didn't come out of the SMD budget.  See https://spacenews.com/38288mars-2020-rover-to-include-test-device-to-tap-planets-atmosphere-for/

[Kiwi53]

How many tubes have been filled up now?

28 of 38 per https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance/mars-rock-samples/

And so they will go to waste ? to think NASA spent almost 40 years (1977 - 2017) to get MSR funded and off the ground, a bazillion of studies to get the best compromise; then they got the first half of the mission, up to sample caching and then - mission canned.

The samples won't go to waste.
They will perhaps be the only "pristine Mars before human settlement" samples ever collected, or at least one of a very few sets of such samples. They will therefore be scientifically extremely valuable.

One day, they will be retrieved, probably IMO by a ground transporter or a hopper from some human settlement.

[vjkane]

The OMB thing doesn't sound familiar to me at all, do you have a cite?

Mars2020 evolved from the earlier MAX-C mission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Astrobiology_Explorer-Cacher .  MOXIE was not competed.  It was paid for by the Space Technology Mission Directorate so at least it didn't come out of the SMD budget.  See https://spacenews.com/38288mars-2020-rover-to-include-test-device-to-tap-planets-atmosphere-for/

My memories are from more than a decade ago.  Blackstar and I had conversations around this; he may remember more details.

Here's the best that I remember, but these are memories.

That was a time of shrinking planetary science budgets. A concern was how to keep JPL going without a major project.

OMB agreed to include a major new rover mission in the budget to support JPL.  As I remember, it had to include what became MOXIE.  I doubt that someone in OMB thought of that requirement, so it likely came from somewhere else (NASA's group looking at future human missions?). I *remember* that OMB intended another  rover mission that would be essentially a science lab like Curiosity.

The science community did not support another rover mission that would be essentially a science lab like Curiosity. The community pushed, and the focus of the mission shifted to sample selection and collection, which had been the then fresh Decadal Survey's top priority to enable an essential start to Mars sample return.

What do others remember?

[ccdengr]

That was a time of shrinking planetary science budgets. A concern was how to keep JPL going without a major project... OMB agreed to include a major new rover mission in the budget to support JPL.

I must have missed the part where OMB was somehow responsible for keeping JPL solvent.  That doesn't sound right to me, but what do I know -- I've been working on Mars programs since the late 80s, but I'm not a funding insider.

[vjkane]

That was a time of shrinking planetary science budgets. A concern was how to keep JPL going without a major project... OMB agreed to include a major new rover mission in the budget to support JPL.

I must have missed the part where OMB was somehow responsible for keeping JPL solvent.  That doesn't sound right to me, but what do I know -- I've been working on Mars programs since the late 80s, but I'm not a funding insider.

My memory might be wrong... A dozen years ago?

[Robotbeat]

How many tubes have been filled up now?

28 of 38 per https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance/mars-rock-samples/

And so they will go to waste ? to think NASA spent almost 40 years (1977 - 2017) to get MSR funded and off the ground, a bazillion of studies to get the best compromise; then they got the first half of the mission, up to sample caching and then - mission canned.

The samples won't go to waste.
They will perhaps be the only "pristine Mars before human settlement" samples ever collected, or at least one of a very few sets of such samples. They will therefore be scientifically extremely valuable.

One day, they will be retrieved, probably IMO by a ground transporter or a hopper from some human settlement.

Are they hermetically sealed already?

[vjkane]

The samples won't go to waste.
They will perhaps be the only "pristine Mars before human settlement" samples ever collected, or at least one of a very few sets of such samples. They will therefore be scientifically extremely valuable.

One day, they will be retrieved, probably IMO by a ground transporter or a hopper from some human settlement.

Are they hermetically sealed already?
[/quote]
Each tube is sealed immediately after it's confirmed that an adequate sample was collected.

[MickQ]

The samples won't go to waste.
They will perhaps be the only "pristine Mars before human settlement" samples ever collected, or at least one of a very few sets of such samples. They will therefore be scientifically extremely valuable.

One day, they will be retrieved, probably IMO by a ground transporter or a hopper from some human settlement.

Are they hermetically sealed already?

Each tube is sealed immediately after it's confirmed that an adequate sample was collected.
[/quote]

So it doesn’t matter how or by who they are retrieved and how long it takes, the samples will still be pristine and unique.

[vjkane]

The samples won't go to waste.
They will perhaps be the only "pristine Mars before human settlement" samples ever collected, or at least one of a very few sets of such samples. They will therefore be scientifically extremely valuable.

One day, they will be retrieved, probably IMO by a ground transporter or a hopper from some human settlement.

Are they hermetically sealed already?

Each tube is sealed immediately after it's confirmed that an adequate sample was collected.

So it doesn’t matter how or by who they are retrieved and how long it takes, the samples will still be pristine and unique.
[/quote]
I'm sure that there is some expiration date. Also, scientists and yourself might like this to happen in their lifetimes.

[ShadowAndFlame]

The samples won't go to waste.
They will perhaps be the only "pristine Mars before human settlement" samples ever collected, or at least one of a very few sets of such samples. They will therefore be scientifically extremely valuable.

One day, they will be retrieved, probably IMO by a ground transporter or a hopper from some human settlement.

Are they hermetically sealed already?

Each tube is sealed immediately after it's confirmed that an adequate sample was collected.

So it doesn’t matter how or by who they are retrieved and how long it takes, the samples will still be pristine and unique.

I'm sure that there is some expiration date. Also, scientists and yourself might like this to happen in their lifetimes.

All the quote blocks were offset by one! I think this fixed it.

[AndrewM]

A couple updates over the last month.

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-2020-perseverance/perseverance-rover/nasas-perseverance-mars-rover-to-take-bite-out-of-krokodillen/ [May 19]

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is exploring a new region of interest the team is calling “Krokodillen” that may contain some of the oldest rocks on Mars. The area has been on the Perseverance science team’s wish list because it marks an important boundary between the oldest rocks of Jezero Crater’s rim and those of the plains beyond the crater.

To date, Perseverance has collected and sealed two regolith (crushed rock and dust) samples, three witness tubes, and one atmospheric sample. It has also collected 26 rock cores and sealed 25 of them. The rover’s one unsealed sample is its most recent, a rock core taken on April 28 that the team named “Bell Island,” which contains small round stones called spherules. If at some point the science team decides a new sample should take its place, the rover could be commanded to remove the tube from its bin in storage and dump the previous sample.

“There are seven empty sample tubes remaining and a lot of open road in front of us, so we’re going to keep a few tubes — including the one containing the Bell Island core — unsealed for now. This strategy allows us maximum flexibility as we continue our collection of diverse and compelling rock samples.”

https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere/status/1925243414867845343 [May 21]

You line up 59 images for one perfect Mars selfie and a dust devil shows up in the background like it’s trying to go viral.

Timing is everything out here!

For more information: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/devils-in-details-in-selfie-taken-by-nasas-mars-perseverance-rover/

https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere/status/1932182489981997327 [June 9]

Important Update: As part of @NASA’s effort to streamline communications, this account will be archived in the coming weeks – but don't worry, my mission isn't going anywhere.

For continued access to the latest Perseverance news, images, and science, please follow @NASAMars.

[catdlr]

Mars cleans Perseverance and erases its work

Jul 6, 2025
Episode 222
Perseverance is a robotic field geologist observing the aftermath of events that occurred millions to billions of years ago.  But it's also a witness to events happening today that have shaped the surface of Mars across geologic time.