Meet the Perseverance Rover's Mars Samples: Shuyak & Mageik | NASA/JPL
Meet two of the Martian samples that have been collected and are awaiting return to Earth as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign. As of late July 2023, NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover has collected and sealed 20 scientifically selected samples inside pristine tubes. The next stage is to get them back for study.
Considered one of the highest priorities by the scientists in the Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032, Mars Sample Return would be the first mission to return samples from another planet and provides the best opportunity to reveal the early evolution of Mars, including the potential for ancient life. NASA is teaming with ESA (European Space Agency) on this important endeavor.
Learn more about Samples No. 14 and 15—“Shuyak” and “Mageik,” a pair of sedimentary rock core samples that excite scientists because, on Earth, this type of sedimentary rock preserves signs of life for a very long time. If that same process also occurs on Mars, it could help us understand if life ever existed there.
Read about all the carefully selected samples: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-rock-samples
Learn more about the Mars Sample Return campaign: https://mars.nasa.gov/msr
A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover characterizes the planet's geology and past climate, paves the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and is the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
Rover Name: Perseverance
Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.
Mars Helicopter (Ingenuity)
Launch: July 30, 2020
Landing: Feb. 18, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Duration: 1 minute, 18 seconds
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