Testing a Roubion-Like Rock

Engineers working with NASA's Perseverance Mars rover set up this test area at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in late 2021 to practice drilling into crumbly rocks using a duplicate of the rover's rock-coring drill. Perseverance's drill was designed to provide solid rock cores roughly the size of a piece of chalk; however, the rover's first sample, nicknamed "Roubion," collapsed into powder, prompting a test campaign.