NASA's Perseverance rover is hard at work on Mars. By collecting rocks and storing them on the red planet. But back in this world The space agency is struggling to carry out plans to collect Mars samples. After months of deliberation, NASA has decided on two alternative paths for the Mars Sample Return project, one of which is aided by private industry.
During a media briefing on Tuesday, NASA announced an unusual approach for its ambitious Mars sample mission. The space agency will pursue two different approaches to bringing samples from other worlds to Earth simultaneously. “Pursuing two possible paths will help ensure that NASA can bring these samples back from Mars with significant cost and schedule savings over previous plans,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in the report. statement–
In April 2024 NASA is calling on private industry to come up with another solution. To collect Martian rocks and dust from the Red Planet and dump them on Earth. The space agency asked for proposals for a less complex mission architecture that would reduce costs and bring samples to Earth faster. five months later The agency received 11 studies from both the NASA community and industry players. And a team has been formed to evaluate the best way to return the samples.
At this point, NASA will pursue “two different approaches to landing the payload platform on Mars,” the space agency writes. The first option would involve a tried and tested landing on Mars using a sky crane similar to that used by NASA's rovers, while the other option would use a new method developed by an official partner. trade
Both routes will involve a smaller version of the Mars Ascent Vehicle, a lightweight rocket designed to launch a tube containing samples from Mars into the planet's orbit. Both missions will also rely on the European Space Agency's Earth Return Orbiter. It is designed to capture sample containers orbiting Mars. The sample container will hold 30 tubes.
“NASA's rovers endure the harsh environment of Mars to collect cutting-edge science samples,” Nicky Fox, deputy administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement. “We want to bring those people back as soon as possible to study them in state-of-the-art facilities.”
NASA is struggling with it. Mars sample return mission It has recently come under scrutiny for cost overruns and schedule delays. In September 2023 The Independent Review Board (IRB) issues a report. in this mission, calling this mission a It was described as a “highly restrictive and challenging campaign” with “unrealistic budgets and deadline expectations from the start.” The mission was originally budgeted at $7 billion to return samples in the 2030s, however, It was later revealed that returning Mars samples would cost $11 billion. It is expected to return the samples by 2040. According to reports, NASA has begun Consider alternative architectures for complex missions.
Despite its complexity, the Mars Sample Return represents an unprecedented opportunity to closely study samples from another world. “The return of Mars samples will help scientists understand the planet's geological history and the evolution of climate on this arid planet. which living things may have existed in the past and shed light on the early solar system before life began on Earth,” Fox said. “This will prepare us to safely send the first human explorers to Mars.”