NASA's Perseverance is trying again to collect Mars samples after the first rocks crumbled to pieces

After NASA's Perseverance rover came up empty in its attempt to collect rock samples from Mars earlier this month, it's ready for another go-round. The US space agency said on Thursday that the rover will abrade, or scrape, a rock nicknamed'Rochelle' with a tool on its robotic arm. By scraping the rock, it will let researchers see inside to see if it's worth taking a sample, which would'slightly thicker than a pencil,' NASA wrote in a statement. After NASA's Perseverance rover came up empty in its attempt to collect rock samples from Mars earlier this month, it's ready for another go-round. The US space agency said on Thursday that the rover will abrade, or scrape, a rock nicknamed'Rochelle' (pictured) with a tool on its robotic arm If the team decides the rock is good to go, the sampling process would start next week.