Technologies
‘A historic moment’: NASA Perseverance rover collects first ever Mars rock sample
The rock core could be destined for Earth, eventually, but mailing it home will be a whole other ordeal.
NASA’s Perseverance rover, currently rolling around a dried out lakebed on the surface of Mars, has completed the first, critical step in a decade-long mission to return pieces of Mars to Earth. On the 190th day of its mission “Percy,” as the rover is affectionately known, overcame earlier sampling problems and snatched a core of rock, slightly thicker than a pencil, from Mars’ surface.
On Sept. 1, the space agency announced data had arrived from the Mars rover indicating it had successfully obtained a core from a briefcase-sized rock known as “Rochette.” But the team wanted to be “extra certain” that was the case. To be sure, the rover would need to take a few photographs of the drill device with one of its cameras.
The first images beamed back to Earth appeared to show rock had been successfully snatched. However, after an operation to vibrate the drill bit, a second round of images were taken. The sun, however, was not playing nicely with Percy. The lighting conditions were too poor to confirm exactly what was in the tube — and the team wanted to be doubly sure.
On Saturday, they got their wish.
Adam Steltzner, NASA chief engineer on the mission, tweeted his congratulations on Sep. 4. “We got it,” he wrote.
“For all of NASA science, this is truly a historic moment,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science.
The early images show a rust-red sediment that could be iron-rich minerals, according to Steven Ruff, a planetary geologist at Arizona State University and creator of YouTube channel Mars Guy. Percy’s landing site in Jezero Crater was once home to a great body of water and its two sampling attempts are already revealing some of the geologic history of Mars. “Both of those rock targets that they’ve interrogated look different than really anything that we’ve seen anywhere else on Mars,” Ruff says.
The successful collection is part 1 of the most elaborate and complex mail run of all time.
Getting the Martian rock core in the sampling tube is like placing a letter in an envelope. The next step is for Perseverance to process, seal and stamp that envelope and get it ready to send. Perseverance has 43 of these envelopes and can collect dozens of diverse rock samples. On Monday, NASA announced the rover had stored the sample in its interior, locked away in an airtight titanium tube. (I’m sure this will become a trivia question in the future so, for reference, the very first sample was stored in tube number 266)
Percy intends to leave these titanium tube-letters scattered across the surface of Mars for a mail carrier to collect at a later date. The key issue here is: The mail carrier hasn’t even been built yet.
NASA and the European Space Agency plan to send a Martian lander and sample collection rover to the surface of Mars in 2026. The rover (our mail carrier in this extended metaphor) will roll out, gather up Percy’s tubes and place them in its mailvan — a rocket bound for Earth. Sometime in early 2030, Percy’s mail will finally reach its intended recipient, provided everything goes according to plan.
Should the mail make it home, it would be the first time humans have returned materials from another planet.
Technologies
Anthropic warns investors of AI’s ‘existential risk to humanity’ in IPO prospectus, reports say
Anthropic’s IPO filing dedicates 80 pages to the risks of AI, nearly double the 48 pages it spends discussing its business plans, according to Reuters.
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Technologies
U.S. and Iran hold separate mediated talks as Middle East oil exports hit wartime peak
U.S. and Iranian officials have engaged in separate mediated talks aimed at ending the seven‑month war, while Middle East oil exports have surged to near‑record levels despite the conflict.
Iranian and American officials reportedly held separate meetings with mediators on Monday, urging a ceasefire.
Middle Eastern crude exports climbed this month to their highest point since the war started in February.
According to Kpler, a total U.S. export ban on diesel would keep about 1.2 million barrels per day domestically and could overwhelm Gulf Coast storage capacity.
The ruins of the Shajareh Tayebeh primary school, destroyed in Minab, Hormozgan province, are shown in an image taken on August 10 2026, surrounded by rubble. Six months later, AFP journalists gained rare access to the site, which remains largely in ruins, with collapsed walls and twisted steel framed by portraits of the children who were killed and Iranian flags waving above the debris. Iran asserts that the attack involved two separate U.S. Tomahawk missiles, though neither the United States nor Israel has officially claimed responsibility. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images) / Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty Images
U.S. and Iranian officials have reportedly engaged in separate indirect talks with mediators on Monday, reviving efforts to end the seven‑month war. Tehran is pushing for a response to a revised ceasefire framework while Middle East crude exports reach their highest level since the conflict started.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Qatari mediators in New York, where he stayed after the United Nations General Assembly, and said he expects a reply from Washington by Tuesday. “We discussed ideas and how to find solutions to meet Iran’s conditions,” Araghchi said, adding that he plans to return to Tehran once a response arrives. “Whenever the Qataris have an answer, they know how to get it to us.”
Iran’s proposal, first presented on the sidelines of last week’s General Assembly, calls for the United States to release frozen Iranian funds within four to five days, lift sanctions on Iranian oil, and end the naval blockade of Iranian ports, with nuclear talks slated to begin within seven days. Tehran has linked any reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to the fulfillment of these steps.
President Donald Trump called the plan “unacceptable” on Sunday and rejected it, telling reporters that Iran seeks a rapid agreement because of the economic pressure it faces. At the White House on Monday, Trump said U.S. officials had spoken separately with mediators but offered no further details, adding, “We’re going to win. It’s going to go pretty quickly.”
The diplomatic push comes as physical supply data indicates the war’s impact on the oil market is easing. Middle Eastern crude exports rebounded this month to roughly their highest level since the conflict began in February, according to Kpler. The tracking firm noted that Middle East crude exports are at just under 80 % of pre‑conflict levels.
The Strait of Hormuz itself remains far from normal. Kpler’s real‑time tracking showed total traffic through the strait at 10,591 kilobarrels per day on Saturday, compared with a pre‑war baseline of 17,133.
Technologies
Oil prices fall as crude exports recover at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea ports
Saudi Arabia has restored flows through the pipeline to around 3.5 million barrels per day, according to media reports.
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