{"id":59768,"date":"2024-06-05T12:57:49","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T12:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/21c3aee8-e77e-4042-8e4a-69f288fc52ee"},"modified":"2024-06-05T13:39:42","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T13:39:42","slug":"nasa-has-gathered-samples-on-mars-ready-to-return-to-earth-but-now-is-not-quite-sure-how-to-get-them-back","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/nasa-has-gathered-samples-on-mars-ready-to-return-to-earth-but-now-is-not-quite-sure-how-to-get-them-back\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA has gathered samples on Mars, ready to return to Earth, but now is not quite sure how to get them back"},"content":{"rendered":"

The agency is seeking novel ideas to return Perseverance\u2019s samples to Earth. <\/p>

By Ezzy Pearson\n <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 05 June 2024 at 12:57 PM<\/p>

\n\n

NASA\u2019s quest to return samples from Mars could be in trouble.<\/p>

The agency is still committed to returning material from the Martian surface to Earth, but after an independent review predicted the project would run over time and over budget, it is now requesting novel concepts on how to go about this.<\/p>

The first sample tube deposited on Mars by Perseverance rover, 21 December 2022. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>
NASA\u2019s Mars Sample Return<\/a> programme is a multi-phase project to return Martian rock and soil samples to Earth.<\/a><\/p>
The Perseverance rover<\/a> is the first phase of this endeavour and is currently on Mars, collecting and caching samples.<\/p>
The plan is to follow up with two more missions: a NASA-led rover and ascent vehicle to collect the samples and launch them into orbit; and a spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency to capture and return them to Earth.<\/p>
Sample-return missions<\/a> like those to asteroids or the Moon enable scientists to study pieces of the Solar System under pristine laboratory conditions.<\/p>
Having a piece of Mars to study with a suite of instruments on Earth could enable scientists to learn much more about the Red Planet’s history, and whether it could ever have supported life.<\/p>
$\"NASA\u2019s$
NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover image showing a sample depot on 31 January 2023, containing 10 samples. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/ASU\/MSSS Full Image Details<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Mars sample return mission runs into trouble<\/strong><\/h2>
In 2023, an independent report evaluated whether the programme was on track.<\/p>
It found the overall project cost to NASA would be an estimated $11 billion and that samples would be returned no sooner than 2040.<\/p>
NASA has now released its response.<\/p>
“We are committed to retrieving the samples. It is an important national objective that we return these samples,” says NASA administrator Bill Nelson.<\/p>
“The bottom line is an $11 billion budget is too expensive and a 2040 return date is too far away.”<\/p>
$\"Selfie$
A ‘selfie’ by the Perseverance rover, captured after successfully drilling two rock core samples.Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Given NASA\u2019s current budget, this would require cannibalising the funding for other science programmes, while the agency is currently working towards landing humans on Mars in the 2040s.<\/p>
As a result, the agency has called on all NASA centres, as well as partners in the wider space industry, to ask for new plans to return the samples more quickly and affordably.<\/p>
These include suggestions for ways to use already proven technologies, reducing the need for lengthy and expensive testing, as well as finding ways to reduce the mission\u2019s complexity, such as using a smaller ascent vehicle.<\/p>
$\"Composite$
Composite image showing some of the sample tubes deposited by the Perseverance rover at ‘Three Forks,\u201d a location within Mars\u2019s Jezero Crater. Credit: NASA JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>
“To organise a mission at this level of complexity, we employ decades of lessons on how to run a large mission, including incorporating the input we get from conducting independent reviews,” says Nicky Fox, NASA\u2019s associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate.\u00a0<\/p>
“Our next steps will position us to bring this transformational mission forward and deliver revolutionary science from Mars \u2013 providing critical new insights into the origins and evolution of Mars, our Solar System and life on Earth.”<\/p>
**www.nasa.gov\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n**
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