Which Mars rover was the first to use a drill for sample cores?

Perseverance was the first Mars rover to use a drill to collect rock cores for caching. NASA’s earlier Curiosity rover also drilled into Martian rocks, but it typically produced powdered samples for analysis inside the rover rather than sealed cylindrical cores intended for possible return to Earth.

Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021, as part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. Its rotary-percussive drill, mounted on the robotic arm, cuts a chalk-sized cylinder from suitable rock and transfers it into a sterile titanium sample tube. The rover also records witness tubes and collects regolith and atmospheric samples.

The first coring attempt in August 2021 created a hole but did not leave a usable sample in the tube because the target rock crumbled. Perseverance successfully cored the rock nicknamed Rochette on September 1, 2021, and confirmed the first collected Martian rock sample several days later. Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity used different drilling or abrasion methods, but did not pioneer this core-caching system.