NASA announced today that the Ingenuity-based helicopters now on the surface of Mars will be sent to… [+] the red planet in 2027 to help Perseverance collect rock samples to return to Earth for further study.
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NASA is sending two helicopters to Mars, but no new rover, as part of a historic round trip from Earth to Mars and back to collect rock samples.
In the 17 months since it landed on Mars, the Perseverance rover has collected 11 scientifically compelling rock core samples and one atmospheric sample.
Once on Earth, they will help scientists establish a geological record crucial to understanding the environmental evolution of Mars and possibly its prebiotic chemistry and biology.
In short, it can reveal traces of ancient life.
Buoyed by the incredible success of its tiny Ingenuity drone which has now completed an astonishing 29 flights, NASA said today that it will begin its long-awaited Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission in 2027 with the first rock samples from an alien planet . will return to Earth in 2033.
NASA revealed that it will launch an Earth Return Orbiter in the fall of 2027, a Sample Retrieval Lander in the summer of 2028, and that those samples would return to Earth in 2033.
The new mission architecture reveals a few interesting design changes.
This illustration shows the Sample Retrieval Lander, which would carry a small rocket (about 10… [+] feet, or 3 meters tall) called a Mars ascent vehicle on the Martian surface. After using a robotic arm to load the rover’s sealed sample tubes into a container in the rocket’s nose cone, the lander would launch the Mars Ascent Vehicle into orbit around the Red Planet.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Sample Retrieval Lander will carry two “sample retrieval helicopters,” which will help Perseverance collect the samples the rover itself has been busy assembling.
By then, Perseverance will have been on the Martian surface for nearly a decade. The old plan had been to send an entirely new rover.
Also on the Sample Retrieval Lander platform will be a small rocket called the Mars Ascent Vehicle. The new plan is for Perseverance to return to the platform and place sealed sample tubes in a container in the nose cone of the rocket. To do this, it will use a sample transfer arm built by the European Space Agency (ESA).
The Mars Ascent Vehicle will then launch to rendezvous with the Earth Return Orbiter high above the Martian surface.
The Earth Return Orbiter would be the first spacecraft to go from Earth to Mars, or any planet, and then back to Earth.
The use of both Perseverance and two new helicopters for this mission is a major change of plan on NASA’s part.
“The conceptual design phase is when all facets of a mission plan are put under a microscope,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “There are some significant and beneficial changes to the plan, which can be directly attributed to Perseverance’s recent successes at Jezero and the amazing performance of our Mars helicopter.”
This illustration shows a concept for a set of future robots that work together to send samples back… [+] of the surface of Mars collected by NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover, but the new rover, in the center, has now been abandoned in favor of two new Mars helicopters. .
NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech
The mission, which will collect the samples that NASA’s Perseverance rover has left scattered around the Jezero crater, was recently given the green light by the Decadal Survey.
In his report, he recommended that the MSR be of “the highest scientific priority for NASA’s robotic exploration efforts this decade” and of “fundamental strategic importance to NASA, US leadership in planetary science, and international cooperation”.
However, that report also said that MSR should not cost more than 20% more than the allocated $5.3 billion. This new plan, which reduces the need for a new rover, could help keep costs as low as possible, although it requires a lot of confidence in Perseverance’s longevity.
I wish you clear skies and wide eyes.