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<\/p>\nIt\u2019s an ask never before attempted: Launch samples off the surface of another planet for return to Earth \u2014 using a rocket you first have to launch from Earth using a bigger rocket and then land on Mars. <\/p>\n
Yet this is exactly the contract Lockheed Martin has won from NASA for their Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), a crucial part of the larger inter-agency Mars Sample Return effort from NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) currently underway on the Red Planet with the Perseverance rover.<\/p>\n
But just how will Lockheed Martin accomplish this feat \u2014 as the rocket has to land on the surface, then open up to allow the samples (the payload) to be placed inside, and then launch into Mars orbit so those samples can be retrieved by the waiting ESA Earth Return Orbiter?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Mars Ascent Vehicle, inside our company, we have three things: launch vehicle experience, missile experience, and then Mars lander and mission experience. So really we brought all those three things together,\u201d said David Murrow, Senior Manager of Deep Space Exploration Strategy and Business Development for Lockheed Martin\u2019s Corporation Space in an interview with NASASpaceflight.<\/p>\n
But to get the rocket to Mars, it has to fit inside an existing, larger rocket\u2019s payload fairing \u2014 and it also has to fit inside the aeroshell of its Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) system that will protect it during Mars atmospheric entry and touch down on the Red Planet\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n
This constrains the size of the rocket to just 2.7 meters in length.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An illustration showing a concept for multiple robots that would team up to ferry to Earth samples collected from the Mars surface by NASA\u2019s Mars Perseverance rover. (Credit: NASA)<\/p>\n
Furthermore, once it\u2019s on the surface, it then has to be able to open up to allow the samples it has come to launch to be loaded into its nosecone.<\/p>\n
NASA mission updates (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n \u201cThe way the system is designed, the Mars Ascent Vehicle will be horizontal, held down,\u201d related Murrow when talking about the MAV\u2019s Earth launch and then cruise to and landing on Mars configuration. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll be in a climate-controlled igloo while it\u2019s on the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n This igloo will act in large part as a way to keep the solid propellant in the rocket\u2019s two stages warmed to the correct operating temperature throughout the mission until the vehicle is ready to launch to Martian orbit.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the samples are stuck into the nosecone, then the lid will go on, and then we\u2019re ready to launch,\u201d related Murrow.<\/p>\n For launch, the rocket will first be lofted into the air by springs and, at the correct time and at the correct orientation while in the air, the solid rocket first stage will fire to begin the ascent to Martian orbit.<\/p>\n<\/p>\nSee Also<\/h4>\n
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