Air sealed in Perseverance's Mars sample return tubes is as precious as the rocks themselves

A view down layers of mechanical rings, decreasing in visual size to an open bottom showing a circle of red, martian surface.

Scientists are interested in more than just the rocks NASA's Perseverance rover has cached throughout its trek across Mars. They want the air, too.

Since landing on Mars in 2021, Perseverance has collected 24 samples of Martian rock and dust, also known as regolith. These rock cores are believed to hold insight about the planet's ancient past and whether life ever existed on Mars, but the air sealed inside the sample tubes could prove just as important. Scientists think this fresh Red Planet air could reveal new clues about the Martian atmosphere, too.