NASA is blaming unusually soft rock for last week's sampling fiasco on Mars.

NASA’s newest Mars rover has come up empty in its first attempt to pick up a rock sample to eventually be brought back to Earth.

NASA's little Mars helicopter has aced its second test flight.

NASA's experimental Mars helicopter has taken flight.

NASA has again delayed the Wright Brothers moment for its tiny helicopter on Mars as teams continue to troubleshoot issues ahead of its first flight on another world.

Ingenuity's teams are preparing to fly the helicopter for the first time as soon as April 11.

(NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A piece of the Wright brothers’ first airplane is on Mars. NASA’s experimental Martian helicopter holds a small swatch of fabric from the 1903 Wright Flyer, the space agency revealed Tuesday. The helicopter, named Ingenuity, hitched a ride to the red planet with the Perseverance rover, arriving last month. It will mark a "Wright brothers' moment," noted Bobby Braun, director for planetary science at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The swatch made the 300 million-mile journey to Mars with the blessing of the Wright brothers' great-grandniece and great-grandnephew, said park curator Steve Lucht.

Members of the NASA Mars Helicopter team inspect Ingenuity, inside the Space Simulator, a 25-foot-wide vacuum chamber at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, on Feb. 1, 2019. Nicknamed Ingenuity, the 4-pound tiny chopper is actually a test mission for NASA. Following the 300-million-mile journey and frightful landing on Mars, Ingenuity will be released from the rover’s under carriage for a short term-mission unrelated to its ride Perseverance. The Mars Helicopter Delivery System holds the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to the underside of Perseverance. “The Ingenuity Mars helicopter has been fully tested, as much as we can on Earth, we have test flown it and we have tested for environment and next is time to demonstrate proof and learn how it operates at Mars,” NASA JPL Ingenuity project manager MiMi Aung said.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – With eight successful Mars landings, NASA is upping the ante with its newest rover. The spacecraft Perseverance — set for liftoff this week — is NASA’s brawniest and brainiest Martian rover yet. It sports the latest landing tech, plus the most cameras and microphones ever assembled to capture the sights and sounds of Mars. CURIOSITY:The six-wheeled, car-sized Perseverance is a copycat of NASA’s Curiosity rover, prowling Mars since 2012, but with more upgrades and bulk. HUMAN BENEFITS:Besides the helicopter, Perseverance carries other experiments that could directly benefit astronauts at Mars.