Star Wars fans spot lightsaber-like object on Mars surface in new NASA pictures

This lander would, in turn, use a robotic arm to place the samples in a containment capsule aboard a small rocket that would blast off to Mars orbit, where another spacecraft would capture the sample container and return it safely to Earth.

Should Perseverance fail to deliver its samples, the depot will serve as a backup supply for the Return campaign, at which time NASA will deploy a pair of Sample Recovery Helicopters to finish the job.

In the coming weeks, scientists have other opportunities to check Perseverance’s progress in making more sample deposits at the Three Forks cache.

Rick Welch, Perseverance’s deputy project manager at JPL, said: “Seeing our first sample on the ground is a great capstone to our prime mission period, which ends on January 6. It’s a nice alignment that, just as we’re starting our cache, we’re also closing this first chapter of the mission.”

READ MORE: NASA makes huge Mars breakthrough as ‘building blocks of life’ found

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1714151/star-wars-lightsaber-found-mars-nasa-perseverance-new-picture-space