As of September 6, 2021, NASA’s Perseverance Rover has collected its first martian rock sample. The sample was taken from the core of a martian crater “Jezero Crater” and the sample was approximately the size of a pencil. Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California received data that confirmed the historic milestone. The core sample piece is enclosed in a titanium sample tube making it retrievable in the mere future. Through the Mars Sample Return campaign, NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) are planning a series of future missions to return the rover’s sample tubes to Earth for closer study. These samples would be the first set of scientifically identified and selected materials returned to our planet from another. While perseverance has collected samples, the rover has other roles to play like studying the Jezero region and analyzing the possible ancient habitability of the area and understanding the geology of the region as well. This marks a significant milestone in our history as it brings us one step closer to answering many big questions regarding life on other worlds.

     The main objective for Perseverance is astrobiology. Astrobiology is the study of life in the universe using biological properties that are applied to earth elsewhere. Perseverance’s objective is to search for signs of ancient microbial life to aid in the study of astrobiology. The rover will analyze the planet’s geology and past climate, kick start human exploration of Mars, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith. Perseverance is expected to stay on mars for 1 year (2 Earth years) to collect samples and roam the land of the red planet.