NASA's Perseverance collects sample of ancient Martian rock

NASA's Perseverance rover has finally taken its sixth successful sample of rock from the Martian surface, after managing to shake off pebbles stuck in its tubes. At the end of December the SUV-sized rover drilled into a rock named'issole', but it couldn't seal up the titanium tube as planned. This is because pebbles had fallen out and clogged up the sample-handling system. After a technical manoeuvre that involved spinning the drill really fast, and then turning it upside down, NASA engineers cleared the system in Mid-January. Perseverance has hit'issole' again to finally get a sample of Mars, finding the rock covered in'drill and abrasion marks' that resemble a shocked face. 'This rock almost looked surprised that I was coming back!