WASHINGTON: NASA has approved a multi-mission Mars Sample Return (MSR) effort to move to the next stage in preparation for the return of the first pristine specimens from Mars to Earth.
During this phase, the program matures critical technologies and makes critical design decisions, as well as evaluating business partnerships, NASA said Friday.
The first attempt at this mission is underway with NASA’s Perseverance Mars 2020 rover, launched in July, ready to land on the Red Planet February 18, 2021.
A car-sized rover looks for signs for the old life of microbes.
Using a coring drill at the end of its robotic arm, permanence has the ability to collect samples of Martian and regolith rock (broken rock and dust), and seal them hematically in collection tubs.
The permanence of these samples can be deposited in designated places on the Martian surface or stored internally.
In the next phases of the MSR mission, NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) will provide separate components for the Sample Lander Retrieval Lander mission and the Orbiter Return Earth mission, with launch in the second half of this decade. .
The Sample Retrieval Lander mission will deliver a Sample Fetch Rover and an Ascent Mars Vehicle to the surface of Mars.
The rover retrieves the samples and transports them to the lawyer.
The Perseverance rover also provides the capability to deliver collection tubes to the surface.
An artificial arm on the surface moves the specimens into a vessel rooted in the nose of the Mars Ascent Vehicle.
Once sealed, the system prepares for the first release from another planet.
In Mars orbit, the Earth Return Orbiter recaptures it and captures the seal sample, then places the samples in an additional highly reliable capsule for early return to Earth. in the 2030s.
“Returning samples of Mars to Earth has been a goal of planetary scientists since the early days of the space age, and the successful completion of this key MSR decision point is an important next step in change this goal into reality, “Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate science administrator at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a statement.
Bringing Mars samples back to Earth allows scientists around the world to study the samples using too large and too complex solemn instruments to send them to Mars, and it will an opportunity for future generations to explore them using technology not yet available.
Preserving the samples on Earth will allow the science community to try out new theories and models as they are developed, as the Apollo samples that have returned from the Moon have done for decades.
The Mars Sample Return campaign will also advance NASA’s efforts to send humans to the Red Planet, NASA said.