Decades after exploring the barren surface of Mars from millions of kilometres away, humans will soon get their hands on the Martian regolith (surface material) thanks to an SUV sized astrobiologist trundling on the Red Planet. The rover Nasa’s Perseverance has now successfully collected, processed and sealed the first samples from the Martian surface to be brought to Earth for deeper analysis. The rover, which collected the material from the inside of a rock, beamed back the confirmation to Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The core is now enclosed in an airtight titanium sample tube, making it available for retrieval in the future. NASA’s Perseverance rover successfully pulled off its hazardous landing on the surface of Mars but more unprecedented challenges lie ahead.