back to article NASA comes up empty on Perseverance rover's first Mars sample drilling attempt

NASA's first attempt at having the Perseverance rover retrieve a sample of Martian rocks for later return to Earth has not gone as planned. As detailed in a Saturday post, Perseverance's robot arm stretched out to its intended target and engaged its hollow coring bit and a percussive drill. The latter two instruments …

  1. Chris G

    Probably the core is still attached to the bottom of the hole, that's a common problem if you are not drilling all the way through with a core drill.

    Going by the uniformly fine ejected dust, the rock is quite tough, if it was crumbly you would see larger pieces in it.

    1. Annihilator

      Or wedged inside the core drill? I'd imagine it's doing a lateral tilt at the end to snap the core free from the bottom of the hole as you suggest, but if it's sticky as is being suggested, it may not slide out of the drill. Also a common problem regardless of how far you're drilling with a core drill..

  2. Joe W Silver badge

    The rock's fault...

    And if a peasant cannot swim, it's the trunk's fault.

    Yeah, I get it, this stuff is tough and complicated, and I'm sure they'll figure something out. They always do. Scary, that I have that expectation, but NASA, JPL and all others are just doing crazy stuff and usually exceeding expectations.

    I just could not resist...

  3. mark4155
    Holmes

    I just don't get it.

    Millions of $'s spent on a planet so far and unhabitable for a few tubes of rock. Here on earth the planet warms and a virus continues to wreak havoc, especially amongst poorer countries. It just doesn't make sense, fix the earth, then fly to Mars.

    1. Sgt_Oddball
      Headmaster

      Re: I just don't get it.

      Whilst a much lorded ideal, do you honestly think the earth will ever be fixed?

      If so, then when will it be fixed?

      Spending on projects like these as wasteful as it might first appear, can often bring in a large number of secondary benefits to industry, economies and yes, even the environment (if millions was not spent on various launch vehicles then things like weather satellites, atmospheric monitoring satellites, observation satellites would not exist).

      Sometimes it more than worthwhile to do these things because the benefits can be numerous and immeasurable. Not to mention, satisfying our curiosity.

      1. ColonelDare

        Re: I just don't get it.

        ...I agree with St_Oddball and would add:. Don't forget the money all stays here on Earth, only a small bit of kit ends up elsewhere.

        1. gandalfcn Silver badge

          Re: I just don't get it.

          And the tech and knowledge also stays here. How much money has been wasted in the USA since the Tangerine Nightmare decided he was robbed?

      2. gandalfcn Silver badge

        Re: I just don't get it.

        Frendly correction. It is lauded not "lorded".

    2. lglethal Silver badge
      Thumb Down

      Re: I just don't get it.

      You do realise that those "millions" spent on Mars wouldnt do a single bit of good in fighting any of the things on Earth you mention. Hell NASA's entire budget is not even a rounding error on the US Government's budget report. You want to complain about wasted money, try looking at the trillions spent on the world militaries. 1% of their budgets could do a hell of a lot, and would still dwarf NASA's budgets thousands of times over. But those for some reason are untouchable.

      And without NASA and it's miniscule budgets you wouldnt have half of your modcons. We get that you "dont get it". So why dont you let the adults in the room discuss the great Science being done, the things we're all learning by NASA having troubles with this drilling, and you can go do your virtue signalling elsewhere. I hear facebook is good for that. The Register is aimed at a higher level of Commentard, one that can actually use logic...

      Muppet.

      1. Lord Elpuss Silver badge

        Re: I just don't get it.

        Harsh, but.... yes.

      2. Jan 0 Silver badge

        Re: I just don't get it.

        @Iglethal

        So your advice is basically, do nothing and let our planet rot because the problem is too big!

        Wise people will break the problem down into manageable portions.

        1. lglethal Silver badge
          Facepalm

          Re: I just don't get it.

          No, my advice is not to take money from people doing actual science that creates a myriad of benefits, as you and Mark1455 seem to be advocating for.

          Now would you like to go back and read my comment again and see where I suggested the money for solving the problems should come from? Hmmm....

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I just don't get it.

        And forget 'military budgets and governments. If you are so fixed on sorting out the world's problems I trust you aren't allowing yourself to fritter away money on anything wasteful, like tv, sport, holidays. Gruel and a hairshirt and devote the rest of your income to sorting out problems.

      4. gandalfcn Silver badge

        Re: I just don't get it.

        We Muppets feel deeply insulted!

        Very, very true what you posted. I believe mark4155 suffers from what is known as lower order thinking

        so your "let the adults" was very apt.

    3. Pascal Monett Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: I just don't get it.

      That argument again.

      You would do well to remember that, if Kennedy hadn't launched Mankind to the Moon, you wouldn't have a smartphone and probably might not even have a computer to complain on.

      Of course, the drawback of everyone having access to these tools is that people like you can continue trying to spread that stupid argument.

      Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

      1. Annihilator

        Re: I just don't get it.

        To be fair, that presumes that without a publicly funded space programme we wouldn't have thought to do anything else. I'd suggest that the development of the microcomputer owes more to the war effort than the space programme - though equally the space programme was driven by war too.

        1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

          Point taken.

          I'm sure there's an alternate universe where we all live in peace and have invented computers and the Internet in an eco-friendly way.

          It's just not ours.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            You are correct, I'm in that alternate universe and we tried getting a rock sample from Chicxulub a while back but the initial attempt didn't work as well as we hoped it would - however the NASA attempt failure seems to be only a minor issue.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I just don't get it.

      "I just don't get it."

      And we admire your honesty.

      There's an implicit rule for commenting. If you have a known unknown, best not make assertions like "It just doesn't make sense"

      Why take risks? Leave the risks for your unknown unknowns.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Holmes

      Re: I just don't get it. By the Numbers

      NASA's most recent budget was $23.3 billion.

      The program cost of the new US Carrier Gerald R. Ford is estimated at $37.3 billion.

      The carrier is one of 11, all of which are bigger than every other carrier in the world.

      The rest of the world as 10 operating carriers (China has 2 and Russia has 1).

      Do the math (or maths for you across the pond).

    6. gandalfcn Silver badge

      Re: I just don't get it.

      I know this will come as a big surprise to you but there is quir=te a lot more involved than "a few tubes of rock". Also, much of the spreading of Covid is done by covidiots in and from rich countries who apparently are well educated (or so the USA's GOP tries to claim).

      If the eejits causing our problems would listen the the scientists rather than godbothering politicians we would have far less problems.

    7. gandalfcn Silver badge

      Re: I just don't get it.

      Maybe what is in these links will help you.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_technologies

      https://spinoff.nasa.gov

      https://technology.nasa.gov

    8. gandalfcn Silver badge

      Re: I just don't get it.

      I tried posting links to the spin-offs from NASA's work a few times but they just vanished. Try typing NaSA, spinoff and technology into Ecosia.

  4. Marty McFly Silver badge
    Alert

    Danger! It's a robot planet!

    And when the robots die, they are replenished from the next planet over.

    As Farnsworth would say, "We're Dooomed!"

  5. gandalfcn Silver badge

    Could this be viewed as a failed finger blast?

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