The Mars rover Perseverance is turning into a litterbug on the Martian surface, all in the name of science.

Since December 21st, the Perseverance rover has been collecting rock and soil samples from the Jezero Crater. Each sample has been divided into two, with half going into sample collection aboard the rover while the others are sealed in titanium sample tubes.

The sample tubes, ten in total, have been meticulously dropped onto the Martian surface.

So why exactly is the autonomous rover becoming a faraway litterbug, anyway?

NASA and the European Space Agency are planning missions for later this decade to pick up the samples and bring them back to Earth for in-depth study.

Plans call for a rover to retrieve the main samples from Perseverance and use the solar system’s first “pony express” to rocket the sample off Mars to an awaiting space craft heading back to Earth.

If the retrieval of the Perseverance rover fails, the ten sample tubes will be picked up by the helicopter arriving with the rover. The tubes will be delivered to the Mars rocket for blast-off the planet.