New Development of NASA perseverance: catching a handful of Dust on Mars

CTOnews.com, December 8 (Xinhua) in order to give scientists a better understanding of Mars, Perseverance, which is on a scientific expedition to the red planet, is collecting two samples of weathering layers: gravel and dust. Perseverance successfully collected two dust samples from the Martian surface on December 2 and 6.

CTOnews.com learned that, unlike the 15 core samples that have been successfully collected so far, the two dust samples collected by perseverance are from wind-blown sand and dust, similar to sand dunes (dune), but much smaller.

Perseverance collected the dust samples using special metal tubes, one of which will return to Earth this month through Mars Sample Return activities.

Scientists hope to use powerful laboratory equipment on Earth to study Martian samples to look for signs of ancient microbial life and to better understand the processes that shaped the Martian surface. Most of the samples are rocks, and collecting the dust can help scientists understand the geological processes and environment on Mars more quickly, and alleviate some of the challenges that astronauts will face on the Red Planet.