Perseverance - a Nasa mission dug into Mars' surface. However, it failed in its first effort to collect rock samples that would be picked up by future missions and analyzed by scientists on Earth.

 

The US space agency released photos on Friday of a small mound with a hole in the center close to the rover, which is the first time a robot has delved into the Red Planet. The rover's data returned to Earth following its first effort to gather a sample and seal it in a tube; however, it revealed that no rock had been obtained.

 

In the 2030s, NASA hopes to launch a mission to return roughly 30 samples to Earth. They will be studied by instruments far more advanced than those currently available on Mars.