NASA Rethinks Strategy for Returning Mars Samples to Earth

pcmag.com:

The first samples collected from Mars are expected to arrive on Earth in 2033—just not as originally planned.

The Mars Sample Return Program(Opens in a new window) team is nearing completion of the conceptual design phase of the planned mission and has refined the strategy(Opens in a new window) for getting the samples collected by NASA's Perseverance rover back to Earth.

Instead of a fetch rover—initially set to ferry samples between collection point and retrieval lander—NASA will rely on Perseverance as the primary means of transportation. Two recovery helicopters based on Ingenuity will serve as backups.

"The conceptual design phase is when every facet of a mission plan gets put under a microscope," according to Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA HQ. After completing a system requirements review, the agency made a few tweaks to reduce the complexity of future missions and increase the probability of success.

"There are some significant and advantageous changes to the plan," Zurbuchen said, "which can be directly attributed to Perseverance's recent successes at Jezero and the amazing performance of our Mars helicopter."

The first step in the Mars Sample Return Campaign is already in progress: Since landing at the Jezero Crater in February 2021, the Perseverance rover has collected 11 rock core samples and one atmospheric sample. Moving forward, the program is expected to enter the 12-month preliminary design phase in October, completing technology development and creating engineering prototypes of major mission components.

All this is leading up to the ESA Earth Return Orbiter(Opens in a new window) and Mars Sample Retrieval Lander(Opens in a new window) launching in fall 2027 and summer