The mission team is working to clear the debris.
and collect and cache several dozen samples. This pristine Martian material will be returned to Earth, perhaps as early as 2031, by a joint NASA/European Space Agency campaign.
Perseverance has already socked away five Red Planet rock samples. On Dec. 29, the six-wheeled robot collected sample number six from a rock the mission team calls Issole, coring the material out using the percussive drill at the end of its 7-foot-long robotic arm. Everything went smoothly until Perseverance transferred the sample, which was already inside its titanium tube, into the"bit carousel," a rotating, wheel-like structure on the rover's chassis. Sensors recorded resistance unexpectedly early during this step, suggesting a blockage of some sort.
Late last week, the mission team instructed Perseverance to remove the sample-filled tube from the carousel and take some photos of the mechanism. Those images revealed pebbles in the bit carousel.
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