NASA’s Perseverance rover is busily collecting and caching samples for eventual return to Earth. While the technical and engineering challenges in getting those samples into scientists’ hands here on Earth are formidable, budgeting and funding might be the mission’s biggest headaches.(source google)
The Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission is a joint collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). The mission is set to launch in 2028 and will retrieve samples collected by the Perseverance rover. The mission is estimated to cost between $8.4 and $10.9 billion, making it the most expensive robotic planetary science program since the Viking landers. (Source google)
NASA is delaying plans to move the MSR program to its next phase of development. An independent review found serious issues with the mission’s technical readiness, cost, and schedule. The review board said that the mission was established with unrealistic budget and schedule expectations. They also wrote that technical issues, risks, and performance-to-date indicate a near zero probability of the mission launching on time.
NASA is forming a response team to address the mission’s budget, scheduling, and organization(source google)
The goal of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission is to return samples of Martian rocks, soils, and atmosphere to Earth for analysis. The samples will be collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover in and around Jezero Crater. The samples will be stored in titanium tubes and returned to Earth around 2033.
The MSR mission will allow for more extensive analysis than onboard sensors. The samples could reveal the early evolution of Mars, including the potential for ancient life. The samples will be available to scientists around the world for study in sophisticated laboratories.
The MSR mission is considered one of the highest priorities by scientists in the Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032
The samples could answer the question of whether life ever existed on Mars. The samples could also reveal information about Mars’ current environment, its past climate, its formation, and the ebbs and flows of its water and ice.
The samples could also tell us more about Earth’s past and future, and may help answer whether life exists beyond our home planet.
The age and composition of different types of rocks on the Martian surface are of fundamental importance. Geologists use the age of rocks to determine the sequence of events in a planet’s history.
The samples could also preserve signs of past life, such as fossilized microbes or ancient chemical signatures that resemble life as we know it
Mars is considered the most habitable planet in our solar system. It has:
- Water: Mars’ soil contains water that can be extracted.
- Temperature: Mars has a habitable temperature.
- Atmosphere: Mars has a thin atmosphere that can protect humans from cosmic and solar radiation.
- Gravity: Mars has a gravity that is 38% of Earth’s, which is believed to be enough for the human body to adapt to.
- Sunlight: Mars has enough sunlight to use solar panels.
Mars is also rich in the ingredients needed for life, such as:
Water, Organic carbon, Energy source, Carbon, Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Oxygen.
However, Mars also poses many dangers to humans. The most immediate threat to human health is the low pressure of the planet’s atmosphere. Radiation exposure is also a top health risk for Mars astronauts
There’s evidence that Mars may have been habitable in the past. NASA’s Curiosity rover has found that some parts of Mars were habitable for some periods of time. A study simulating the conditions on early Mars found that it may have been habitable for methanogens, microbes that live in extreme conditions on Earth.
Mars may have been habitable for 500 million years before the earliest known life on Earth. It may have had stable liquid water on its surface for hundreds of thousands of years. However, Mars lost its magnetic field around 4 billion years ago, which caused its water to evaporate and be lost to space. This made it impossible for life to exist on the surface of Mars.
Today, Mars is too cold, dry, and has too little air to sustain life
The Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission has three payloads:
- Ascent rocket: Weighs 285 kilograms (628 lb) and carries 0.5 kilograms (1.1 lb) of samples
- Orbiting Sample (OS): Weighs 5 kilograms (11 lb)
- Sample Retrieval Lander: Weighs 1,241 pounds (563 kilograms)
The MSR mission will use robotic systems and a Mars ascent rocket to collect and send samples to Earth. The samples will be loaded onto a small rocket that will land near or in Jezero Crater.
The MSR mission is a set of three separately launched missions. The first mission, the NASA-led Mars 2020 rover, was launched in July 2020. The rover landed on Mars in February 2021
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