Share with friends and circles of friends with wechat scanning QR code < / P > < p > on September 3, local time, on Wednesday, NASA's perseverance Rover successfully collected the first tube of Martian rock samples, which is expected to help scientists understand the red planet in the future < p > last month, the perseverance Rover tried to sample Martian rocks, but it failed. On Wednesday, the Mars rover perseverance tried to sample the rocks again, took photos of the rocks in the sampling tube and sent them back to earth, so that the mission team could confirm that there were rock samples in the sampling tube. Then the perseverance Rover sealed the sampling tube and placed it in the abdomen of the rover < p > < / P > < p > illustration: perseverance Rover successfully collected the first tube of Martian rock samples < / P > < p > the pictures released on Thursday show that perseverance Rover successfully sampled, which is also a relief for scientists on mission < p > "you can see a beautiful core," said Kenneth A. Farley, a professor of Geology and chemistry at the California Institute of technology and a scientist of the perseverance Rover project, on Thursday One of the key tasks of the Mars rover perseverance is to collect Martian rocks and soil, and finally bring it back to earth by another mission. Scientists can use the most advanced instruments in the laboratory for in-depth research, just as they do with lunar rock samples < p > on August 6, the whole process of the first drilling, collection and sealing of rock samples by the Mars rover perseverance seemed to be perfect, but the sampling tube was empty < p > "this is definitely a little desperate," Farley said in an interview before this attempt to drill“ Everyone is ready to declare victory. Then someone said, 'there's nothing in it'. It's very frustrating. " < p > the perseverance Rover looked around with its camera to confirm whether the core fell to the ground, but there was no sign. The rock sample seems to have disappeared < p > illustration: structure diagram of perseverance Rover < / P > < p > what scientists are most worried about is that the complex drilling rig of perseverance rover has a serious failure and can't collect any samples at all. But after careful analysis of the data, engineers and scientists concluded that the sampling failure was the problem of rocks, not the rover < p > on August 19, Jennifer Trosper, the project leader of the perseverance rover, said: "this rock is not the kind of rock we want at all." "The rover's system performed as expected, in fact quite well," she wrote. But the rocks are too fragile. " < p > Tropper explained, "the bit sampling process resulted in the rock breaking into powder and small fragments, which were too small to stay in the sampling tube." She added that despite many tests on earth, "we have not encountered such rocks in our tests." < p > Farley acknowledges that there are early indications that the rock drilled last time may not be suitable for the first sampling. Its brown appearance indicates rust, which contains salt and is full of holes < p > rust, salt and holes mean that rocks have been in lakes or groundwater for a long time. This may be a special scientific discovery. The mineral changes caused by water may indicate that Mars was a wet and livable planet billions of years ago < p > illustration: the Mars rover perseverance drilled holes in a Martian rock named "Rochet", but the rusty salty stone full of holes may also be very fragile“ We learned a lesson this time, "Farley said < p > but the rover's sampling last month was not a complete failure. Although there is no Martian rock or soil in the sealed sampling tube, there is uncontaminated Martian air after all. Scientists had planned to collect these things at other times < p > in the second sampling attempt, the rover first drove about 360 meters to a ridge slightly higher than the surrounding terrain. "We chose the place where we could find the hardest rock," Farley said. This Boulder, nicknamed "Rochet", has survived the baptism of the years and has not been eroded by the wind, which is a strong evidence that the rock is not easy to break < p > this boulder looks like a hardened lava, which can be dated accurately. Therefore, scientists will be able to determine the age of the boulder and help determine the age of Mars's lower and older rocks < p > "this is a high-value goal," Farley said < p > but Farley and other scientists still need to wait more than 10 years to get rock samples. According to the established plan, the Mars rover perseverance may place the sealed sampling tube somewhere on the Martian surface and wait for the future Mars rover to take it away. The problem is that future Mars exploration equipment is still under design < p > in the future, Mars rovers will carry rock samples on small rockets and then launch them back to earth, but they will not reach their destination until the 1930s < p > the Mars rover perseverance will continue to explore the 45 kilometer wide Jero crater and move all the way along the ancient dry delta at the edge of the crater. The rover was accompanied by a Mars helicopter called dexterous, which originally existed to test the ability of man-made aircraft to fly in the thin air of Mars < p > although NASA had only planned a series of test flights for dexterous. But it turned out that the Mars helicopter flight was very successful. NASA asked dexterous to continue to follow the Mars rover perseverance as a reconnaissance device for the terrain ahead. At the same time, the project team is constantly adjusting the scientific mission of the rover < p > scientists originally planned to let the rover go to a place, which looked very eye-catching from the photos taken from Mars orbit“ Then we looked at the images taken by the Mars helicopter, "Farley said. It didn't look so special < p > he said, "we can save a lot of time if we don't drive in the past."（ Chen Chen) < / P > < p >