Inside of a Perseverance rover sample tube, illustration. The Perseverance rover is a part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission to study the geology of Mars and search for signs of life. The interior of the sample tube is coated in titanium nitride (gold, right). A hermatic (airtight, right) seal helps to prevent contamination by material from Earth. The payload bore (centre, brown) is where rock or soil soil collected from Mars will be stored. It has a plunger and spring (left) to release and activate ball locks that secure the tube during sample collection.