Homeward Bound

In a matter of days, NASA is set to launch its Perseverance rover to Mars.

One curiosity of the mission is that Perseverance will be bringing a rock back to the Red Planet that scientists believe originated on Marsroughly 600,000 to 700,000 years ago, as the BBC reports for a fascinating scientific reason.

The rock, first discovered in the deserts of Oman in 1999, is one of nine materials that NASAs rover will take with it. These materials, housed inside a device on the rover called Sherloc, will serve to calibrate Perseveranceslaser and spectroscopy instruments. In other words, itll be a control to make sure that if Perseverance finds evidence of ancient life, itll know for sure.

Well look at the calibration target in the first 60-90 days and perhaps not again for six months because we think the instrument is really very stable, Luther Beegle, principal investigator of Sherloc at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told the BBC.

But if we start seeing interesting things on the surface of Mars that we cant explain in the spectra, then well look back to the calibration target to make sure that the instruments working correctly, he added.

The eventual goal is to collect interesting rocks, seal them in a small tube, and leave them behind on the Martian surface to be returned by later missions.

READ MORE: Nasa Mars rover: Meteorite to head home to Red Planet [BBC]

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Here's Why NASA's Next Rover is Bringing a Mars Rock Back to Mars - Futurism