Photo: NASA JPL
With the Artemis I mission well on its way to the Moon, all eyes are affixed to the Orion capsule now hurtling through space between our planet and its satellite. With all this going on, you’d think this is no time to think about anything else over at NASA. You’d think wrong.
Spectacular as it is, given how it’ll put humans back on the Moon after more than half a century, Artemis will soon be overshadowed by something perhaps even more extraordinary: the Mars Sample Return mission.
We’re talking about an American-European effort designed to bring back samples of the Martian soil to be better studied here on Earth. We’ve known about it for a while, almost down to the smallest of details, but this crazy Artemis week NASA gave us a very visual representation of what Mars Sample Return is all about.
It’s been known for a while the mission will be a multi-stage one, and it’ll involve a multitude of pieces of hardware. It first needed a machine over on Mars capable of snatching and storing the samples: that was supposed to be a new rover, but turned out to be Perseverance in the end.
Then, it needs a ship to transport the samples from Mars. Called Earth Return Orbiter, this ship will reach the planet and remain in orbit. Then, it needs a lander, which in turn holds inside it an ascent vehicle, which in turn holds a capsule.
How all of this is going to work is very closely detailed in the rather short video NASA released this week (available below the text). It shows the lander touching down close to Perseverance: then the rover moves close to it, and deposits the samples, held in cylinders, inside the ascent vehicle hidden in the lander.
Once all the slots are filled, the lander opens up and releases the ascent vehicle. Once this one reaches orbit, it in turn releases the capsule containing the samples. This capsule will have to find the ship stationed in orbit, dock inside it, and head back to Earth.
Check out the video below to see how this robotized mission will unfold. There’s some waiting to do until witnessing the entire thing for real, though: the Earth Return Orbiter will launch in 2027, while the lander in 2028. Samples are expected back in 2033.
We’re talking about an American-European effort designed to bring back samples of the Martian soil to be better studied here on Earth. We’ve known about it for a while, almost down to the smallest of details, but this crazy Artemis week NASA gave us a very visual representation of what Mars Sample Return is all about.
It’s been known for a while the mission will be a multi-stage one, and it’ll involve a multitude of pieces of hardware. It first needed a machine over on Mars capable of snatching and storing the samples: that was supposed to be a new rover, but turned out to be Perseverance in the end.
Then, it needs a ship to transport the samples from Mars. Called Earth Return Orbiter, this ship will reach the planet and remain in orbit. Then, it needs a lander, which in turn holds inside it an ascent vehicle, which in turn holds a capsule.
How all of this is going to work is very closely detailed in the rather short video NASA released this week (available below the text). It shows the lander touching down close to Perseverance: then the rover moves close to it, and deposits the samples, held in cylinders, inside the ascent vehicle hidden in the lander.
Once all the slots are filled, the lander opens up and releases the ascent vehicle. Once this one reaches orbit, it in turn releases the capsule containing the samples. This capsule will have to find the ship stationed in orbit, dock inside it, and head back to Earth.
Check out the video below to see how this robotized mission will unfold. There’s some waiting to do until witnessing the entire thing for real, though: the Earth Return Orbiter will launch in 2027, while the lander in 2028. Samples are expected back in 2033.
Mars Sample Return would be one of the most ambitious campaigns ever attempted in space.
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) November 17, 2022
But bringing those samples to Earth will be no easy feat, requiring multiple spacecraft to pick up the samples, launch off the Martian surface, and ferry them back to our planet. pic.twitter.com/CCWjeO87WU
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