This artist's concept of a proposed Mars sample return mission portrays the launch of an ascent vehicle.NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s planned Mars Sample Return mission features in a new article from the Many Worlds Blog. The article includes discussions with Lindsay Hays, deputy program scientist for Mars Sample Return and the deputy program scientist for NASA’s Astrobiology Program.
The recent landing of NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars marks the first step toward returning samples from the martian surface. Perseverance will be used to identify and collect materials in Mars’ Jezero crater, and these samples will be the target of a long-term project focused on returning them to Earth for scientific study.
The full article is available at the Many Worlds Blog.
This illustration shows a concept of how the NASA Mars Ascent Vehicle, carrying tubes containing rock and soil samples, could be launched from the surface of Mars in one step of the Mars sample return mission.Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
The Many Worlds Blog chronicles the search for evidence of life beyond Earth written by author/journalist Marc Kaufman. The “Many Worlds” column is supported by the Lunar Planetary Institute/USRA and informed by NASA’s NExSS initiative, a research coordination network supported by the NASA Astrobiology Program. Any opinions expressed are the author’s alone.