The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA have signed a statement of intent to jointly explore various options related to a potential Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission in the next decade. Returning Martian samples to Earth has long been a goal for the world\u2019s spaceflight agencies, with new promotional materials from NASA indicating that the agency\u2019s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion crew vehicle might have a role to play in such a mission \u2013 even though Mars Sample Return has not been discussed by NASA in terms of SLS and Orion in several years.<\/p>\n
\nThe new statement of intent between NASA and ESA mainly focused on the joint capabilities of both agencies to achieve the goal of bringing Mars soil and rock samples back to Earth. For NASA, the announcement signals a shift back toward ambitious, high profile, deep space missions.<\/p>\n
From the ESA statement \u201cBringing Mars to Earth is no simple undertaking \u2013 it would require at least three missions from Earth and one never-been-done-before rocket launch from Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the rough mission outline described in the ESA announcement, NASA\u2019s upcoming Mars 2020 rover \u2013 a follow-on mission from the on-going Curiosity rover \u2013 would act as the first step in the three-part mission.<\/p>\n
Mars 2020, which will eventually get a more colloquial name, will collect up to 31 surface samples and place them in pen-sized canisters as it explores the Red Planet, canisters that would be left on the Martian surface for subsequent retrieval.<\/p>\n
A second mission would then deliver a \u201cfetch rover\u201d and a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) to Mars\u2019 surface quite close to the location of the Mars 2020 rover. The fetch rover would then roam the Red Planet\u2019s surface, essentially performing Martian search-and-rescue operations as it finds, grabs, and brings the left-behind sample canisters back to the MAV.<\/p>\n
The sample canisters would all be placed in a single container on top of the MAV \u2013 a small rocket that would then launch the samples into Mars orbit.<\/p>\n