August 26 , 2021 NASA ' s Perseverance Mars will use a tool on its robotic arm to abrade the rock , nicknamed " Rochette ," at the center of this image , allowing scientists to look inside and determine whether to capture a sample with the rover ' s coring bit . The image was taken by one of the rover ' s front Hazard Cameras . A key objective for Perseverance ' s mission on Mars is , including the search for signs of ancient microbial life . The rover will characterize the planet ' s geology and past climate , pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet , and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith ( broken rock and dust ). Subsequent NASA missions , in cooperation with ESA ( European Space Agency ), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis . The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA ' s Moon to Mars exploration approach , which includes missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet . JPL , which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena , California , built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover . For more about Curiosity , visit https :// mars . nasa . gov / msl / home / or https :// www . nasa . gov / mission _ pages / msl / index . html . Credit : NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
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