NASA’s answer to the Mars sample return problem: two plans

NASA’s Perseverance rover has been hard at work on the surface of Mars, collecting bits of rock and storing them away on the red planet. But back on Earth, the space agency was struggling to implement its plan to recover Martian samples. After months of deliberation, NASA has decided to pursue two alternative paths for the Mars sample return program, one of which would entail the help of private industry.

During a press conference on Tuesday, NASA announced an unusual approach to the ambitious Mars sampling mission. The space agency will simultaneously follow two different methods to bring otherworldly samples to Earth. “Following two potential paths will ensure NASA is able to return these samples from Mars with significant cost and schedule savings compared to the previous plan,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. statement.

In April 2024, NASA called on the private sector to find alternative methods To pick up Martian rocks and dust from the red planet and drop them on Earth. The space agency requested proposals for a less complex mission architecture that would reduce cost and get samples to Earth earlier. Five months later, the agency received 11 studies from the NASA community and industry players, and a team was formed to evaluate the best way to return the samples.

At this point, NASA will begin using “two different methods for landing the payload platform on Mars,” the space agency wrote. The first option would involve tried-and-tested means of landing on Mars using a sky crane similar to those used by NASA’s rovers, while the other would choose a new method developed by a commercial partner.

Both routes will include a smaller version of the Mars Ascent Vehicle, a lightweight rocket designed to launch tubes containing samples from Mars into the planet’s orbit. Both missions will also rely on ESA’s Earth Return Vehicle, which is designed to pick up an orbiting sample container in Mars orbit. The sample container will contain 30 tubes.

“NASA’s spacecraft endure the harsh Martian environment to collect groundbreaking science samples,” Nikki Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement. “We want to bring these back as quickly as possible to study them in state-of-the-art facilities.”

NASA has been struggling with this mars sample return mission, Which recently came under scrutiny for cost overruns and scheduling delays. In September 2023, A.J The Independent Review Board (IRB) issued a report in the mission, referring to it as a “very restrictive and challenging campaign”, with “an unrealistic budget and timeline expectations from the start”. The mission was originally capped at $7 billion to return samples in the 2030s. But it later became clear that the process of returning samples to Mars would require a budget of $11 billion, with an estimate for returning samples by 2040. In light of the report, NASA began… Consider an alternative architecture for its complex mission.

Despite its complexities, the return of a Mars sample represents an unprecedented opportunity to study samples from another world up close. Fox said: “The return of the Mars sample will allow scientists to understand the geological history of the planet and the evolution of the climate on this barren planet, where life may have existed in the past. It will also shed light on the early solar system before life began here on Earth.” “This will also enable us to safely send the first human explorers to Mars.”