Second Try's a Charm: NASA's Perseverance Drills a Mars Rock

As the Perseverance rover drilled into a rock on Wednesday to collect a sample from Jezero Crater on Mars, Justin Simon, a planetary scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, felt both nervous and excited. He has the honor of serving as the "sample shepherd," leading the effort from millions of miles away, but the pressure's on. "These samples not only will allow us to understand the geology of the crater, but also minerals likely related to the history of water there," he said yesterday. But first, the rover had to actually capture a chunk of rock in a test tube-sized container. An initial attempt in early August had come up empty.