NASA and the European Space Agency have revealed the final architecture of their ambitious program to bring samples of martian rock and soil back to Earth.
NASA and the European Space Agency revealed today the final architecture of their ambitious program to bring samples of martian rock and soil back to Earth. One big change: instead of sending a new, ESA-built “fetch rover” to help collect the material in 2030, the Mars Sample Return mission will plan on a direct delivery from NASA’s existing Perseverance rover, which has been on the planet since early 2021.
Planners are also now bullish that helicopters are a dependable backup for the sample return mission. NASA sent the Ingenuity helicopter to Mars with Perseverance as a technology demonstration, and it has performed 29 flights and lasted more than a year longer than expected. Using helicopters as a tool “has moved into the realm of the possible,” says NASA science chief Thomas Zurbuchen. “That’s why we do tech demos.
. “Mars Sample Return is happening as we speak,” Zurbuchen says, referring to Perseverance having already collected samples of 11 different rock types from Jezero crater. Each sample has been split into two tubes the size of a penlight. One will stay with the rover, the other will be deposited into a depot on the ground as “an insurance policy,” Zurbuchen says. The rover will continue to collect samples until it has about 30, the total number that can be carried back to Earth.
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