Why Perseverance's First Mars Drilling Attempt Came Up Empty

Last week, NASA's Perseverance rover shot for a new milestone in the search for extraterrestrial life: Drilling into Mars to extract a plug of rock, which will eventually get fired back to Earth for scientists to study. Data sent to NASA scientists early on August 6 indicated a victory--the robot had indeed drilled into the Red Planet, and a photo even showed a dust pile around the borehole. "What followed later in the morning was a rollercoaster of emotions," wrote Louise Jandura, chief engineer for sampling and caching at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a blog post yesterday describing the attempt. While data indicated that Perseverance had transferred a sample tube into its belly for storage, that tube was in fact empty. "It took a few minutes for this reality to sink in but the team quickly transitioned to investigation mode," Jandura wrote.