NASA's Perseverance has dropped its final sample of Mars dirt - The Verge

Perseverance landed on Mars in February 2021, touching down inside a 28-mile-wide bowl known as Jezero Crater with a core mission to look for signs of ancient microbial life and gather samples of the Martian environment.

Scientists believe that, billions of years ago, Jezero Crater may have contained a river that flowed into a vast lake, which could have provided the necessary environment to support microbial life.

Perseverance has been programmed to carefully knock over any tubes that land vertically on their end (as above) to make them easier to pick up in a future mission.

While the table has been set at Three Forks, Perseverance is reportedly still in good condition and will now undertake an extended mission to explore the nearby Delta Top territory.

The Delta Top campaign is expected to last around eight months and will investigate rocks and sediment that appear to have been carried into the Jezero Crater by an ancient river.

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin was entrusted with building the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) last year, which is required to lift off from the Red Planet’s surface — making it the first rocket to ever launch from another planet if successful — and pass the collected samples to a spacecraft being built by the European Space Agency, which will subsequently deliver the precious cargo into the hands of eager scientists back on Earth.