He\u2019s\u00a0the ExoMars Payload and Assembly, Integration and Verification Team Leader at ESA, and he coordinates with NASA to keep the two agencies working smoothly together.<\/p>\n
Tell us about the Sample Return mission.<\/h4>\n
The Mars Sample Return<\/a> mission is the first mission \u2013 programme actually, because more than one craft is required \u2013 to return samples from another planet. We have samples from the Moon returned by the Apollo missions, by the Russian rover and most recently by the Chinese. And we\u2019ve returned samples from asteroids [via missions run] by the US and Japan.<\/p>\n But we\u2019ve yet to return a sample from Mars. That\u2019s the objective. The first step is the Perseverance rover, which is beginning to collect samples after NASA landed it successfully on Mars in February this year.<\/p>\n The Mars Sample Return programme is a joint endeavour between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), although NASA is leading it. NASA will be responsible for the rockets that will launch from the surface of Mars and put the samples in Mars orbit. But ESA is responsible for the Earth Return Orbiter, which is basically going to be the first interplanetary spacecraft.<\/p>\n It\u2019ll go from Earth to Mars, go into orbit around Mars, rendezvous with the sample craft in Mars orbit, capture the sample and then come back to Earth. It won\u2019t enter Earth orbit, but it\u2019ll release the NASA-built entry capsule containing the samples once it\u2019s near enough. Only the entry capsule will come back to Earth, not the Earth Return Orbiter.<\/p>\n The plan is to essentially have the capsule perform a controlled crash. So we\u2019ll target the crash site, then have the Earth Return Orbiter release the samples and fly away. It\u2019ll deviate so that it flies past Earth and goes into a graveyard orbit around the Sun.<\/p>\n But prior to all this, Perseverance will be on Mars collecting samples. Those samples will be put in caches on the surface. In 2026 NASA will launch another rocket to Mars containing a lander that\u2019s carrying the Mars Ascent Vehicle and the Sample Fetch Rover.<\/p>\n The lander will land on Mars and release the Fetch Rover, which will pick up the caches of rock samples that have been collected by Perseverance. The Fetch Rover will then bring them back to the lander, where they\u2019ll be put in the Mars Ascent Vehicle and launched into Mars orbit.<\/p>\n Yes, there are plenty of challenges, especially as the launch will have to be carried out automatically.<\/p>\n The rocket will be a two-stage, solid-fuelled rocket, and that will carry the Orbiting Sample container \u2013 or OS, essentially a football-sized sphere. When the rocket gets into orbit, it\u2019ll eject the OS and leave it orbiting Mars.<\/p>\n We\u2019re still working on how best to make sure we can find it. Our baseline is that we make it shiny and use cameras to spot it from a distance of a few thousand kilometres, which is what the Earth Return Orbiter will be at as it makes its approach.<\/p>\n It seems doable, but everybody\u2019s still a little worried. So we\u2019re considering about radio beacons, laser range finders and stuff like that. But there are a lot of challenging steps, which is what makes this fun for engineers who have to build all of these things and make them work.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve sampled Mars from afar with our robots, rovers and landers. And we have samples from meteorites that were blown off Mars and landed on Earth. We know that\u2019s where they came from, thanks to isotopic analysis of the rocks. A few of them contain gas bubbles that are dead ringers for Mars\u2019s atmosphere, which we measured with Viking 1 and 2 back in 1976 and 1977.<\/p>\n So if we already have samples from Mars, why go and bring back more?\u00a0Well, firstly we can\u2019t tell precisely where these Martian meteorites came from on Mars. We have some hypotheses, but we don\u2019t know. Secondly, although we have high-powered instruments and spectrometers on Perseverance, and other Mars rovers, those instruments are miniaturised so they can make the trip; they\u2019re not as high-performance as the instruments we have in our labs on Earth.<\/p>\n Also, some of the rocks that will be obtained by Perseverance in the Jezero Crater aren\u2019t represented in the meteorite samples. Those kind of rocks don\u2019t survive being blown off of a planet, we think. And yet they\u2019re key to the geologic history of Mars. And because of the delta in Jezero Crater, the rocks from there might have been associated with liquid water and so are most likely to contain evidence of past life or organic materials of a past environment on Mars.<\/p>\n Whether we decide that means there was or wasn\u2019t once life on Mars, we don\u2019t know yet. Let\u2019s wait for the evidence.<\/p>\n That\u2019s down the road. But in order to analyse them, we\u2019re going to take extraordinary precautions. Because Mars is considered potentially inhabitable \u2013 we\u2019ve seen that there are underground environments that may contain liquid water \u2013 for these first samples we\u2019ll use the most stringent planetary protection measures.<\/p>\n The samples will be contained within rugged metal test tubes that are as inert as possible so we don\u2019t contaminate the contents. They\u2019ll be packaged inside the OS, which has multiple shells. Then, when the OS gets up to the Earth Return Orbiter, it\u2019s packaged inside the entry capsule that will also have multiple shells. And when the capsule gets back to Earth, it\u2019ll be picked up and bagged before being taken to a special facility for unpacking.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll X-ray the test tubes to see the mineralogy of the contents before we open them. Some of the samples may also undergo very high-energy synchrotron examination to look at their compositions.<\/p>\n Only once we\u2019re convinced that it\u2019s safe to do so will we open the capsules, and we\u2019ll do that in a controlled way too. Then other, more advanced geochemical procedures will be applied to the samples to look at the details and see if there are any organic materials along with the mineral.<\/p>\n Yeah, they do look like inflated tyres. They\u2019re not, though \u2013 they\u2019re actually a wire mesh made with memory metal that allows us to make a bigger wheel that can be compressed in a smaller package for launch. The tyres do expand, but they don\u2019t inflate through air. When we get to Mars, they\u2019re released and allowed to expand to their full size. The reason for that is the Sample Fetch Rover will need to cover a lot of ground quickly, and larger wheels will help it do that.<\/p>\n We\u2019re also going to use just four wheels instead of the six we\u2019ve had in previous designs. Six wheels is very efficient for rough terrain. Four wheels with big tyres, like you see on dune buggies, are also okay for rough terrain, especially if you know what the terrain is like, which we will, to some extent, because we have Perseverance on the ground already essentially doing reconnaissance.<\/p>\n Personally, I\u2019m not worried about Mars contamination. I think Earth and Mars have been \u2018sharing spit\u2019 for billions of years. But my opinion is irrelevant compared to what the public and political perception is of this risk. So we need to address that. It\u2019s going to be a heck of a challenge, I think, especially given what we\u2019ve seen with COVID as far as the general public\u2019s confidence in scientific authority is concerned. We\u2019ve already taken our lesson from that.<\/p>\n And we welcome the challenge because we need to understand what the samples from Mars mean, if we ever want to have astronauts go there and come back. We need a detailed understanding of what planetary protection means if we have the ambition, as many do, to have astronauts \u2013 human beings \u2013 go further into the Solar System and then be able to come back to Earth.<\/p>\n Launched in July 2020, NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover successfully landed in the Jezero Crater on Mars in February 2021. The roughly hatchback-sized rover represents the first leg of humanity\u2019s first round trip to another planet.<\/p>\n The rover will use its drill to collect rock and soil samples and store them on the planet\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n Any samples Perseverance collects will be in sealed tubes that the rover will deposit on the planet\u2019s surface, essentially leaving a trail of breadcrumbs behind it as it explores the Martian surface.<\/p>\n Future missions to Mars \u2013 collaborative efforts by NASA and ESA \u2013 will follow the trail left by Perseverance, to retrieve the samples and return them to Earth.<\/p>\n The next stage will get underway in 2026, when NASA launches another mission to Mars that will carry a lander containing the rover, rocket and capsule needed to collect the samples gathered by Perseverance and launch them on their journey back to Earth.<\/p>\n The lander will aim to set down in the Jezero Crater, where Perseverance began its journey.<\/p>\n After the lander has successfully touched down on the Red Planet, it\u2019ll deploy its solar panels to power up the ESA-designed Fetch Rover.<\/p>\n The rover (a four-wheeled vehicle, slightly smaller than Perseverance) will then unfold itself and deploy from the lander before beginning to follow the trail of samples left behind by Perseverance.<\/p>\n The Fetch Rover will follow in Perseverance\u2019s tracks to collect the samples that have been deposited on the surface. Once a sample has been located, a robotic arm will deploy to collect it and store it inside the rover, before it moves on to find the next one.<\/p>\n Once enough samples have been collected, the Fetch Rover will return to the lander.<\/p>\n Once the Fetch Rover has arrived back at the lander, the same arm it used to collect the sealed samples will transfer them into the nose cone of the Mars Ascent Vehicle, stowed inside the lander.<\/p>\n If there are additional samples that the Fetch Rover was unable to collect, they could be brought to the lander directly by Perseverance.<\/p>\n Once the samples are loaded onto the Mars Ascent Vehicle, the small rocket will be launched from the lander into Mars orbit.<\/p>\n The gravity on Mars is about a third of that on Earth, so it\u2019s easier for objects to reach escape velocity, hence the rocket can be much smaller. It\u2019s expected to be a maximum of 3m tall and around 50cm in diameter.<\/p>\n The Mars Ascent Vehicle will carry the container of samples into orbit around Mars and release it. Another spacecraft, the Earth Return Orbiter, will detect the sample container and collect it, before returning to Earth.<\/p>\n Once there, the Earth Return Orbiter will drop the sample container into Earth\u2019s atmosphere\u2026 if everything goes according to plan.<\/p>\n Read more about the future of Mars:<\/strong><\/p>\n By Sara Rigby Published: Thursday, 14 October 2021 at 12:00 am We want to bring something back from Mars. That\u2019s the thinking behind a programme so ambitious that it will take two space agencies and several missions to pull it off. To find out what\u2019s at stake, and how we\u2019ll get a sample from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":59,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"11"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/10\/mars-sample-return-the-mission-that-will-bring-home-a-piece-of-another-planet.jpg",1200,675,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/10\/mars-sample-return-the-mission-that-will-bring-home-a-piece-of-another-planet-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/10\/mars-sample-return-the-mission-that-will-bring-home-a-piece-of-another-planet-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/10\/mars-sample-return-the-mission-that-will-bring-home-a-piece-of-another-planet-768x432.jpg",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/10\/mars-sample-return-the-mission-that-will-bring-home-a-piece-of-another-planet-1024x576.jpg",800,450,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/10\/mars-sample-return-the-mission-that-will-bring-home-a-piece-of-another-planet.jpg",1200,675,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/10\/mars-sample-return-the-mission-that-will-bring-home-a-piece-of-another-planet.jpg",1200,675,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Sara Rigby Published: Thursday, 14 October 2021 at 12:00 am We want to bring something back from Mars. That\u2019s the thinking behind a programme so ambitious that it will take two space agencies and several missions to pull it off. To find out what\u2019s at stake, and how we\u2019ll get a sample from the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/58"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Read more about Mars exploration:<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Launching rockets from Earth is tricky enough. Launching one from Mars sounds incredibly difficult.<\/h4>\n
What would it mean to the astronomical community to get a sample of Mars back to Earth?<\/h4>\n
![\""Dr\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2021\/09\/1567217385346-ExplorerRelaxed-c2f9e5b.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C929"\" "\\"\"\u00a9\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>What sort of things will you be looking for in the samples?<\/h4>\n
The Sample Fetch Rover looks like it\u2019s going to have inflatable tyres on its wheels. Why?<\/h4>\n
Are you worried about contamination from the Mars samples?<\/h4>\n
The Mars Sample relay<\/h2>\n
1.\u00a0Land, explore, drill<\/h3>\n
![\""Perseverance\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2021\/09\/PIA23491-Mars2020Rover-ObtainingSamples-20200210-84bdfaa.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C349"\" "\\"\"\u00a9\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>2. Seal and deposit<\/h3>\n
![\""Perseverance\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2021\/09\/PIA23492-Mars2020Rover-StoringSamples-20200210-eb48c1e.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C349"\" "\\"\"\u00a9\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>3. Set off the second wave<\/h3>\n
![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2021\/09\/PIA23494-MarsSampleReturnMission-Lander-20200210-76e6647.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C479"\" "\\"\"\u00a9\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>4. Unfold and unload<\/h3>\n
![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2021\/09\/PIA23711-MarsSampleReturnMission-Lander2-20200210-86a5737.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C437"\" "\\"\"\u00a9\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>5. Grab and go<\/h3>\n
![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2021\/09\/PIA23493-MarsSampleReturnMission-FetchRover-20200210-1f8e121.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C349"\" "\\"\"\u00a9\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>6. Hand over the samples<\/h3>\n
![\""Sample\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2021\/09\/PIA23495-MarsSampleReturn-Fetching-20200210-fe4f049.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C470"\" "\\"\"\u00a9\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>7. Blast off for home<\/h3>\n
![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2021\/09\/PIA23496-MarsSampleReturnMission-Launching-20200210-717afc3.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C463"\" "\\"\"\u00a9\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>8. Pick up and drop off<\/h3>\n
![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2021\/09\/PIA23500-MarsSampleReturnMission-Releasing-20200210-2835c02.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C349"\" "\\"\"\u00a9\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"