In a first, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is going to attempt to bring a sample of Mars back to Earth for scientists to study. Nasa released an independent review report on November 10 indicating the agency is now ready to undertake its Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign to bring pristine samples from Mars to Earth for scientific study.
We're ready to undertake a new campaign to return the first samples from Mars. This groundbreaking partnership with @ESA will build on decades of scientific advancements and technical progress in Mars exploration: https://t.co/Yrc2Gy1P6H pic.twitter.com/FEifWiYM3U
— NASA (@NASA) November 10, 2020
“The agency established the MSR Independent Review Board (IRB) to evaluate its early concepts for a groundbreaking, international partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) to return the first samples from another planet,” Nasa said in a statement.
Following an examination of the agency’s ambitious Mars Sample Return plan, the board’s report approved Nasa to go ahead with the plan.
“After a thorough review of the agency’s planning over the past several years, the IRB unanimously believes that Nasa is now ready to carry out the MSR program, the next step for robotic exploration of Mars,” said the statement.
Nasa’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is more than halfway to Mars following its launch in July. The Perseverance rover will gather samples from Martian rocks and soil using its drill. The rover will then store the sample cores in tubes on the Martian surface. This entire process is called “sample caching”, informed another Nasa statement.
I’m proud to be the first leg of Mars Sample Return. Things are looking good for @NASA and @ESA to bring pristine samples of Martian rocks back to Earth in the future. https://t.co/vdsPrDMg23 #CountdownToMars pic.twitter.com/eZyn4M7BIM
— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) November 10, 2020
“Aboard Perseverance is a sophisticated sampling system with a coring drill and sample tubes that are the cleanest hardware ever sent to space. Once on Mars, Perseverance aims to cache rock and regolith samples in its collection tubes. It then would leave some of them on the Martian surface for an ESA-provided “fetch” rover to collect and deliver to a Nasa-provided Mars Ascent Vehicle, which then would launch the samples into orbit around Mars,” said the statement by Nasa.
“An ESA-provided Earth Return Orbiter would then rendezvous with the samples in orbit around Mars and take them in a highly secure containment capsule for return to Earth in the 2030s,” it added.
The study of Mars rocks will help ‘answer key astrobiology questions’
Scientists want to analyze samples from Mars in hopes of ascertaining whether life ever existed in the planet’s lush, wet past.
“I believe this sample return will be well worth the effort and help us answer key astrobiology questions about the Red Planet bringing us one step closer to our eventual goal of sending humans to Mars,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, Nasa associate administrator for science at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.
In a first, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is going to attempt to bring a sample of Mars back to Earth for scientists to study. Nasa released an independent review report on November 10 indicating the agency is now ready to undertake its Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign to bring pristine samples from Mars to Earth for scientific study.
“The agency established the MSR Independent Review Board (IRB) to evaluate its early concepts for a groundbreaking, international partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) to return the first samples from another planet,” Nasa said in a statement.
Following an examination of the agency’s ambitious Mars Sample Return plan, the board’s report approved Nasa to go ahead with the plan.
“After a thorough review of the agency’s planning over the past several years, the IRB unanimously believes that Nasa is now ready to carry out the MSR program, the next step for robotic exploration of Mars,” said the statement.
Nasa’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is more than halfway to Mars following its launch in July. The Perseverance rover will gather samples from Martian rocks and soil using its drill. The rover will then store the sample cores in tubes on the Martian surface. This entire process is called “sample caching”, informed another Nasa statement.
“Aboard Perseverance is a sophisticated sampling system with a coring drill and sample tubes that are the cleanest hardware ever sent to space. Once on Mars, Perseverance aims to cache rock and regolith samples in its collection tubes. It then would leave some of them on the Martian surface for an ESA-provided “fetch” rover to collect and deliver to a Nasa-provided Mars Ascent Vehicle, which then would launch the samples into orbit around Mars,” said the statement by Nasa.
“An ESA-provided Earth Return Orbiter would then rendezvous with the samples in orbit around Mars and take them in a highly secure containment capsule for return to Earth in the 2030s,” it added.
The study of Mars rocks will help ‘answer key astrobiology questions’
Scientists want to analyze samples from Mars in hopes of ascertaining whether life ever existed in the planet’s lush, wet past.
“I believe this sample return will be well worth the effort and help us answer key astrobiology questions about the Red Planet bringing us one step closer to our eventual goal of sending humans to Mars,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, Nasa associate administrator for science at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.
