NASA promises to bring Mars samples to Earth by 2033

NASA said Wednesday it has already completed a review of the system requirements for the Returned Samples Program. Anthem. Thomas Zurbuchen, the agency’s associate science director in Washington, said in a statement that he is almost completing the conceptual design phase, where “all aspects of a mission plan are put under the microscope.”

In practice, this means that the team responsible for the program has already evaluated and fine-tuned the architecture to formalize it. return of scientifically selected samples. The campaign began when Perseverance rover landed in Jezero Crater and collected 11 core rock samples from the Red Planet.

How will NASA bring samples from Mars to Earth?

The first planning of the American aviation agency guessed patience Drop samples onto the planet’s surface to be picked up by another vehicle, the Sample Retrieval Lander, with the aid of the Sample Fetch Rover with the robotic Sample Transfer Arm.

The rock fragments would then be transferred to the Mars Ascension Vehicle (MAV), Earth’s first rocket into space from another planet. But new plans no longer includes the Sample Fetch Rover, received two helicopters from the Ingenuity “family” to transport samples.

The sequence continues as in the original plane, meaning the MAV takes off, launching the samples into Mars orbit. A container to be picked up by ESA’s Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) and brought to Earth in 2033. ERO will be released in the fall of 2027.