NASA’s Mars Sample Return Mission (MSR) is a multi-step process that will bring samples of Martian rocks and soil back to Earth. The samples will be loaded into a rocket inside the lander called the Mars Ascent Vehicle. The rocket will launch into Mars orbit, where it will rendezvous with a spacecraft called the Earth Return Orbiter. The Earth Return Orbiter will bring the samples back to Earth.
The MSR is a set of three separately launched missions. The first mission was the NASA-led Mars 2020 rover, known as Perseverance, which was launched in July 2020 and landed on Mars in February 2021.
The MSR is part of NASA’s long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. The samples could answer the key question of whether life ever existed on Mars.
The MSR was originally estimated to cost some $4 billion. However, reviewers found that NASA’s share of the mission could end up costing between $8 billion to $11 billion. The launch could happen no sooner than 2030, 2 years later than now planned.
The samples will be sealed in a biocontainment system to prevent contaminating Earth. The samples will be moved into an Earth entry capsule. The spacecraft will return to Earth and release the entry capsule. The samples will end up in a specialized handling facility.
The samples are expected to be returned to Earth in the early to mid 2030s
Studying Mars samples on Earth allows scientists to use the most sophisticated instruments in the world to analyze them. The samples can be sent to the best laboratories around the world for analysis. These laboratories are too complicated and heavy to take to Mars.
The samples could contain evidence of past microscopic organisms that would reveal whether life ever existed on Mars. The samples can also tell us about the planet’s history and its potential for harboring life. Geologists use the age of rocks to determine the sequence of events in a planet’s history
The Perseverance rover is collecting 30 samples of rock, soil, and atmosphere from the Jazero crater. The samples will be stored for future missions to retrieve them.
The samples could provide insights into the history of Mars and help scientists better understand our origins on Earth. Scientists will be able to test new theories as they are developed, in the same way they’ve done for decades with the Apollo samples from the moon.
The samples will be stored in witness tubes that will show whether Earth contaminants were present during sample collection. This will help scientists tell which materials in the Martian materials may actually be of Earth origin.
The Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission is a joint initiative between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). The mission’s goal is to bring samples of Mars material to Earth for detailed study. The mission is a multi-mission journey. The first part of the mission is the Perseverance rover, which was launched in July 2020. The rover will drill and store samples. In 2026, NASA and ESA plan to send a lander mission that will take the samples and launch them into orbit around Mars. Finally, an ESA-built spacecraft will capture the samples in Mars orbit and return them to Earth.
The MSR mission will involve the first-ever launch into space from another planet and the first-ever rendezvous in orbit around another planet.
Here are some other sample return missions:
OSIRIS-REx A NASA mission that collected samples from the asteroid 101955 Bennu. The samples were returned in September 2023.
Luna 16 The first robotic probe to land on the Moon and return a sample of lunar soil to Earth. The 101-gram sample was returned in 1970.
Hayabusa2 A sample-return mission from the asteroid Ryugu. The spacecraft was launched in 2014 and returned to Earth in 2020.
Chang’e 5 The first lunar sample-return mission since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 in 1976. The mission made China the third country to return samples from the Moon.
Other sample return missions include:
- Genesis, which collected solar wind
- Stardust, which returned a sample-return capsule
- Apollo, which returned 2,200 samples from six different exploration sites on the Moon
- Cosmos 300 and Cosmos 305, which failed to launch in 1969
- Luna E-8-5 405, which failed to launch in 1970
- Luna E-8-5M 412, which failed to launch in 1975
- Luna 18, which failed to launch in 1971
- Luna 23, which failed to land on the moon in 1974
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