We finally know how NASA is going to get its Mars samples back
NASA’s Perseverance rover successfully touched down on the Red Planet roughly two weeks ago. In the days since its arrival, it has been testing its various systems and instruments in preparation for beginning to tackle its science objectives. One of those objectives is to gather Mars material samples and prepare them for eventual return to Earth. The rover itself can’t accomplish that second half of the task, but now we know how NASA plans to make it happen.
In a new post on NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory website, the space agency reveals that it has awarded a massive contract worth as much as $84.5 million to… oh no… please, don’t tell me… ugh, yep, it’s Northrop Grumman. The same Northrop Grumman that NASA gave $500 million to for the development of the James Web Space Telescope which was supposed to launch in 2007 and still hasn’t seen a launchpad. Great. We’re never getting those Mars samples back.
Okay, let me try to put the past behind us for a moment. The sample return process will require multiple steps, with the first being the preparation and sealing of surface material and other samples by the Perseverance rover. The rover will then drop those samples wherever it wants and, at a much later date, a separate mission including a small “Sample Fetch Rover” will head to Mars along with a lander equipped with Mars Ascent Vehicle.
The rover will find the samples, grab them, and deliver them to the lander. The MAV will then ascend from the surface and meet up with an orbiter circling Mars. At that point, the samples will be handed off to the orbiter which will eventually depart Mars and head back to Earth to deliver those samples.
