This image taken by the front left hazard camera (hazcam) aboard NASA's Mars Perseverance rover shows the cored-rock sample remaining in the sample tube after the drill bit was extracted from the bit carousel on Jan. 7, 2022. The sample was collected from a rock in the "South Séítah" region of Jezero Crater on Dec. 29, 2021.

This image has been processed to enhance contrast.

A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

For more about Perseverance:

mars.nasa.gov/mars2020

nasa.gov/perseverance