NASA’s Perseverance rover is currently orbiting the red planet, collecting samples and transmitting data back to Earth. NASA plans to launch new missions in the coming years in collaboration with ESA to collect these samples and return them to Earth. The agency just completed a major overhaul of the Mars Sample Return Program, and there are some major changes (and not the first). NASA cancels Sample Fetch Rover and adds a pair of helicopters based on Ingenuity’s design. In addition to its cameras and science instruments, the Perseverance rover has a sample storage system designed to store rock cores in highly sterile containers. NASA had a bit of trouble with this mechanism early on, but the rover continued to successfully deposit itself on Martian rocks. NASA had only a vague outline of a plan to return these samples to Earth when Perseverance touched down at Mars in 2021, but we’re getting closer to a final plan for this ambitious mission. NASA says updated predictions for Perseverance’s lifetime mean the sample return mission won’t need a new rover at all. Instead, Perseverance will be the primary sample transport vehicle to the Mars Ascent Vehicle, but the lander will also include a pair of sample recovery helicopters based on Ingenuity’s design. NASA initially expected the aircraft, the first ever to fly to another planet, to last only a few months before its equipment failed. And yet, it has flown 29 times and survived a year beyond the original estimate. The new helicopters will serve as a secondary method of retrieving samples from the surface. Bringing pristine samples of Mars to Earth opens up a range of scientific studies not possible with a robotic mission to Mars. So far, Perseverance has collected 11 potentially interesting samples and has room for a few dozen more. After the samples are loaded into the Capture, Containment and Return System, the Mars Ascent Vehicle will send them into orbit. There, the payload will rendezvous with ESA’s Earth Return Orbiter — no changes are recommended for this part of the mission. NASA expects to launch the Sample Retrieval Lander in 2028, and the ESA orbiter will leave Earth (temporarily) in 2027. The samples will reach Earth in 2033, if all goes as planned. The timing could change dramatically if either NASA or ESA miss their launch windows. China also recently announced that it hopes to win over NASA and ESA. Read now:
