NASA refined their plans to bring the samples of Mars on Earth, collected by Perseverance Rover in between 2033

NASA said the initial phase of the Mars Sample Return Program is already started as the Perseverance has collected Rock and Atmospheric Samples.

On 27.07.2022 , Wednesday NASA presented a plan for its Sample Return Program  . That means NASA wants to collect the sample of rocks and many atmospheric objects collected by the Perseverance Rover on Mars . In a media event Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate unveiled about a new architecture , which was unavailable a few years ago .

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltec

NASA is planning the Mars Sample Return Program with the collaboration with the European Space Egency ( ESA ) to bring the samples to Earth for details Experiment . For this details Experiment NASA & ESA will use some sophisticated instruments, which are not possible to send to the Mars .

NASA and ESA are trying to solving the complications

This two Space Egencies have said that This new concept is too much similar than the old concept . This new concept eliminates the requirement of a Rover and the Lander , which was previously planned under the Mission . As this new plan ESA  will first launch an Earth Return Orbiter in the fall of 2027 . Which will be followed by the Launch of the Sample Retrieval Lander in the starting of 2028 . If everything goes well and per scheduled , the collected  sample will arrive in Earth in 2033 .

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Contribution of NASA and ESA

In this mission NASA is contributing the Sample Retrieval Lander, which will carry the Mars Ascent Vehicle ( MAV ) and ESA will contribute the Sample Transfer Arm ( STA ) . This STA will transfer the collected samples from Perseverance Rover to the MAV Rocket . The MAV Rocket will be launched from the Lander toward the Earth Return Orbiter . Then this Orbiter will begin its journey back to Earth with those collected samples .

Safety Measures taken 

NASA has noted that the Perseverance Rover is going to be the primary means to transfer those samples . NASA and ESA will add two sample recovery helicopters as backup, instead of the Rover-Lander combination . This two helicopters are based on the Design of Ingenuity . These will be ventured to Mars with Perseverance Rover and has managed to fly 29 times and survive for over a year.

Conclusion

NASA started that the requirements review for the Program is finished and the conceptual design phase is going to complete . The program will move into its preliminary design phase in this October and the development of technology and engineering prototypes is expected to complete in between 12 months . Point to Note , the first part of the mission has already started as Perseverance Rover has collected 11 Rock Core Samples and 1 Atmospheric Object Sample of the Mars .