Mars in 4K: Perseverance’s Rock Sample Collection

Marvel over NASA’s Mars rock collection. Each of these rock samples was selected by the agency’s Perseverance Mars rover team with the intention of returning them to scientific labs on Earth for in-depth study with instruments too large to send to the Red Planet. Mars Sample Return (MSR) is that crucial next step.

Considered one of the planetary science community’s highest priorities, MSR would be the first effort to bring back pieces of another planet and provides the best opportunity to answer fundamental questions about Mars' early evolution, its potential for ancient life, and its climate, while also unlocking mysteries that we have yet to even conceive. NASA is teaming with ESA (European Space Agency) on this important endeavor.

This video montage shows high-resolution imagery from Perseverance’s CacheCam of rock cores inside the rover's sample tubes. These snapshots preserve a record of each core before its tube is sealed. The video shows cores drilled by the rover between its February 2021 landing and December 2024, when it was climbing to the rim of Jezero Crater.

Read about all the carefully selected samples: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance/mars-rock-samples/

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech