NASA Will Inspire World When It Returns Mars Samples to Earth in 2033
Mars Sample Return Program, which has nearly concluded its conceptual design phase. During this phase, the program team evaluated and refined the architecture to return the scientifically selected Martian samples. These samples are currently in the collection process by NASA’s Perseverance rover in the Red Planet’s Jezero Crater.
The architecture for the campaign is expected to reduce the complexity of future missions and increase the probability of success. In addition to NASA, the program includes contributions from the European Space Agency (ESA).
“The conceptual design phase is when every facet of a mission plan gets put under a microscope,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “There are some significant and advantageous changes to the plan, which can be directly attributed to Perseverance’s recent successes at Jezero and the amazing performance of our
This advanced mission architecture takes into consideration a recently updated analysis of Perseverance’s expected longevity. Perseverance will now be the primary means of transporting samples to NASA’s Sample Retrieval Lander (pictured above) carrying the Mars Ascent Vehicle (pictured below) and ESA’s Sample Transfer Arm.
With this change, the Mars Sample Return campaign will no longer include the Sample Fetch Rover or its associated second lander. The Sample Retrieval Lander will include two sample recovery helicopters, based on the design of the Ingenuity helicopter, which has performed 29 flights on Mars and survived over a year beyond its original planned lifetime. The helicopters will provide a secondary capability to retrieve samples cached on the surface of the Red Planet.
The ESA Earth Return Orbiter and its NASA-provided Capture, Containment, and Return System remain vital elements of the program architecture.
With planned launch dates for the Earth Return Orbiter and Sample Retrieval Lander in fall 2027 and summer 2028, respectively, the…
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