Olivia Cavallaro Science 08.23.2022 21:Aug PM EDT

NASA's Perseverance Rover is Returning to a Martian Place Called 'Enchanted Lake'

The rover is heading to another sedimentary outcrop within the Enchanted Lake for another look.

NASA's Perseverance Rover will make its way back to an outcrop of sedimentary rocks on Mars called "Enchanted Lake," which it first explored in April. The Perseverance Rover team had been busy exploring and taking samples from the Jezero Crater's "Wildcat Ridge" but will soon be traveling back to the Enchanted Lake.

According to Space.com, Mars' Enchanted Lake is a sedimentary outcrop that formed due to the mud, silt, and sand solidifying and turning into thin layers of rock in the Jezero Crater. This area is of great interest to NASA scientists because this place offers an opportunity to collect samples that may contain remains of any ancient microbial life that previously lived on Mars.

NASA's Perseverance Rover to Arrive on Enchanted Lake in September

The Perseverance Rover is expected to drive back to the Enchanted Lake within the next few days and arrive in early September. Before it begins its journey back, however, NASA said that scientists will continue to "assess the two small, string-like pieces of foreign object debris (FOD) detected on one of the rover's coring bits."

The Perseverance Rover's FOD was first identified on August 5 through the imagery of the rover's sample collection system after it took its 12th sample. Upon further inspection using several of the rover's cameras on its turret and a review of recent coring and bit-exchange activities led scientists to conclude that the FOD will not interfere with the next mission to the Enchanted Lake.

Mars Samples to Be Delivered to Earth in 2030

Despite having collected numerous samples from Mars, these items won't make it back to Earth until early 2030. These samples will be taken by the NASA-ESA Mars sample return campaign scheduled for that year.

The transfer of samples collected by NASA's Perseverance Rover from Mars to Earth will be conducted on a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), a small and lightweight two-stage solid-propellant rocket, which is set to be the first-ever rocket launch from another planet, a separate Space.com report said. The rocket is currently under development by Lockheed Martin Space of Littleton, Colorado and will be packaged with NASA's Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL).

The plan is to land the MAV and SRL two-in-one spacecraft near the Jezero Crater alongside another lander dubbed the "fetch rover" from the European Space Agency (ESA). The fetch rover will be tasked to bring the Mars samples from NASA's Perseverance Rover to the MAV, which will then launch into mars orbit, where ESA's Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) will take the container of samples and bring it back to Earth.

Thus far, eight of the 12 samples that NASA's Perseverance Rover had collected were taken from rock that was formed from volcanic activity. The last four were taken from sedimentary rocks. Its next stop is the fan-shaped rock-filled Enchanted Lake, which was named after a landmark: the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska.