ＮＡＳＡ探査車、火星の岩石採取に成功

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米航空宇宙局（ＮＡＳＡ）は、火星探査車「パーシビアランス」が岩石サンプルの採取に成功したことを確認したと発表した。（写真は米航空宇宙局＜ＮＡＳＡ＞の火星探査車「パーシビアランス」が岩石サンプルを採取した岩）
　サンプル採取の対象となったのは、「ロシェット」と呼ばれるブリーフケース大の岩石で、全長９００メートルほどの尾根にある。ＮＡＳＡはツイッターで、鉛筆より若干厚い岩石コアがサンプルチューブの中に収められている写真を投稿。「採れた！」とコメントした。
　ＮＡＳＡは先週の発表で、採取に成功したとみられるものの、探査車が撮影した画像では照明が不足していたため、サンプルがチューブに入っていることを確認できないと説明していた。十分な照明の下で再度撮影が行われたが、画像が地球に届くまで数日を要した。
　ＮＡＳＡはツイートで、「サンプルチューブ内の照明が改善したことで、中に採取した岩石コアが入っていることがわかる」と説明。次の段階として、チューブの密閉と収容を行うとした。
　パーシビアランスは２月、大昔には湖底だったジェゼロクレーターに着陸。搭載された一連の高性能機器を用いて、沈殿物に残されている可能性がある微生物の痕跡を探している。その他のミッションとして、火星の地形と過去の天候の調査も実施する。探査車が採取したサンプルは最終的に、２０３０年代にＮＡＳＡと欧州宇宙機関（ＥＳＡ）が実施する共同ミッションで収集される予定。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/09/07-10:16）

NASA confirmed Monday that its Perseverance Mars rover succeeded in collecting its first rock sample for scientists to pore over when a future mission eventually brings it back to Earth.
I've got it! the space agency tweeted, alongside a photograph of a rock core slightly thicker than a pencil inside a sample tube.
The sample was collected on September 1, but NASA was initially unsure whether the rover had successfully held onto its precious cargo, because initial images taken in poor light were unclear.
After taking a new photo so mission control could verify its contents, Perseverance transferred the tube to the rover's interior for further measurements and imaging, then hermetically sealed the container.
This is a momentous achievement and I can't wait to see the incredible discoveries produced by Perseverance and our team, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science, likened the achievement to the first samples of rock taken from the Moon, which are still invaluable to researchers today.
Perseverance's sampling and caching system is the most complex mechanism ever sent to space, with over 3,000 parts.
Its first target was a briefcase-sized rock nicknamed Rochette from a ridgeline that is particularly interesting from a geological perspective as it contains ancient layers of exposed bedrock.
Perseverance uses a drill and a hollow coring bit at the end of its 7-foot-long (2-meter-long) robotic arm to extract samples.
After coring the rock, the rover vibrated the drill bit and tube for one second, five separate times.
This procedure is called percuss to ingest and is meant to clear the lip of the tube of residual material, and cause the sample to slide down the tube.
Perseverance landed on an ancient lake bed called the Jezero Crater in February, on a mission to search for signs of ancient microbial life using a suite of sophisticated instruments mounted on its turret.
It is also trying to better characterize the Red Planet's geology and past climate.
The first part of the rover's science mission, which will last hundreds of sols or Martian days, will be complete when it returns to its landing site.
By then, it will have traveled somewhere between 1.6 and 3.1 miles (2.5 and five kilometers) and may have filled up to eight of its 43 sample tubes.
It will then travel to Jezero Crater's delta region, which might be rich in clay minerals. On Earth, such minerals can preserve fossilized signs of ancient microscopic life.
Eventually NASA wants to send back the samples taken by the rover in a joint mission with the European Space Agency, sometime in the 2030s.
Its first attempt at taking a sample in August failed after the rock was too crumbly to withstand the robot's drill.