NASA’s Perseverance rover left this ejectable belly pan on Mars.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
The landing of a mission on Mars leaves traces. It’s not just the remnants of the landing equipment left behind on the surface. NASA’s Persistence Dropped a piece of himself on the floor on Saturday, but it was all planned.
The rover arrived on Mars with a belly pan, a protective panel for its sampling system. Part of the rover’s job is to pack samples of Mars rocks and soils into tiny tubes for later retrieval by a future mission
NASA tweeted a GIF on Saturday with the pan in place under the robber, followed by the pan on the floor. “Next is to check my sampling system with the lid off,” NASA said.
The rover used its robotic arm to get the images below. To give us a better idea of how the ejectable belly pan works, NASA also showed what the process looked like during a practice drop when the robber was still on Earth.
I’m getting ready to drop the cover that protects my sampling system. Watch this exercise “belly pan” fall from when I was back on Earth: pic.twitter.com/yXkTvVfunF
– NASA’s Persistence Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) March 12, 2021
The sampling system is a new feature for a NASA rover. The machine takes samples, seals them in tubes and leaves them on the surface. The equipment – including drilling equipment and 43 sample containers – is located under the rover’s belly.
Perseverance came to Mars in February. The fall of the belly pan was part of the post-landing plan. “This exposes the workspace to the atmosphere of Mars and creates more room for processing samples within that workspace,” NASA said.
The belly pan will end up as one more artifact of human exploration on Mars. It’s a good thing there are no tickets for litter on the red planet.
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