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.

NASA's newest Mars rover is called Perseverance, and it has already lived up to the name. Weighing in at just over a ton and loaded with the most sophisticated instruments ever sent to the red planet, the six-wheeled vehicle has already survived a hurdle no previous rover has had to face: a global pandemic. After overcoming months of uncertainty, Perseverance is at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, awaiting the start of the 309-million-mile journey that will take it to an ancient lake bed that may contain evidence of extraterrestrial life. Despite the unprecedented challenges, the $2.4-billion space robot is expected to blast off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as early as Thursday -- right on schedule. The rover traveled across the country from its birthplace at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge in February.