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On November 14, NASA said it was ready for a new campaign in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) to bring rock and soil samples from Mars back to Earth. In a statement, the space agency reported that the Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign would bring pristine samples from the red planet for the scientific community to conduct research.
“The agency established the MSR Independent Review Board (IRB) to evaluate its first concepts for a groundbreaking international partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) to return the first samples from another planet,” revealed NASA in document.
Additionally, taking up its official Twitter profile, NASA reported that the Mars campaign will involve two robotic rovers that will accumulate the best specimens from Mars and, subsequently, an elaborate delivery system will transport the rock material home. Studying the rocks will allow scientists to decipher whether life ever existed on Mars.
The agency’s “ambitious” Mars Sample Return plan has been thoroughly reviewed and given the green light. The campaign will help scientific advances and technical progress in further research related to the red planet. The MSR campaign will require three advanced spacecraft, NASA said, adding that the agency will deploy NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover.
“Mars Sample Return is something NASA must do as a leading member of the global community,” said Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator. “We know there are challenges to be addressed, but that’s why we take a close look at these architectures. And that’s why we get the big results in the end, “he added.
According to NASA, collecting Mars samples remained a top priority for the National Academies’ 10-year Planetary Sciences survey for 2013-2022, which prompted the space agency to work on critical capabilities and the overall concept of MSR. over the course of 3 years. The robust campaign is a long-standing cooperation between NASA and ESA for the future planning and development of human space exploration projects.
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A step towards the “ultimate goal”
“NASA is committed to mission success and to addressing great challenges for the benefit of humanity, and one way to do this is to make sure we are ready to succeed as soon as possible,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator science at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.
“I believe this returning sample will be worth the effort and will help us answer the key questions of astrobiology on the red planet, taking us one step closer to our ultimate goal of sending humans to Mars,” he added. The technically demanding and multifaceted planetary exploration program MSR will enable scientific breakthroughs on a civilization scale.
ESA’s director of human and robotic exploration David Parker said the campaign “reinforces our shared vision of providing world scientists with pristine pieces of the Red Planet to study using laboratory tools and techniques that we could never bring. on Mars “.
– 2020 @NASAPersevere: will collect samples of dust and rock.
– Spaceship 2026: Will collect the sample from Perseverance on Mars when it lands in 2028.
– The spacecraft will launch the samples into the orbit of Mars for the third spacecraft to collect. @that pic.twitter.com/I9uGzXgRQO– Senrik (@ senrik6) November 10, 2020
I think NASA also plans to land on Mars before 2030, but space missions have a bad habit of being delayed or canceled and with a launch window every 2 years even the smallest mistakes become big setbacks for. landing on Mars.
– Gordon_the_Shartist (@GShartist) November 10, 2020
The first rocket launch from another planet!
– SixSilverStones (@sixsilverstones) November 10, 2020
Of course, February 2021 will land on Mars.
2020 was the launch date.– Senrik (@ senrik6) November 10, 2020
Eh, it’s hard to get excited about harvesting perhaps one or two kilograms of Martian soil between late 2020 and early 2030, when we have new technology in the pipeline that will allow thousands of kilograms to be returned in a similar amount of time. . (Spaceship).
– Tyler Perkins (@AstroSkeptic) November 10, 2020
To be more constructive: I think it would be worth investing our engineering talent now in payloads that can adequately leverage Starship’s capabilities, rather than waiting 4-6 years more and being behind the innovation curve.
– Tyler Perkins (@AstroSkeptic) November 10, 2020
How will a rocket small enough to fit on a lander have the fuel and thrust it needs to get into orbit? Even with the lower gravity of Mars, that sort of thing sounds like it would be difficult
– fish (@ fish02641049) November 10, 2020
Double check to make sure you and ESA are both using Metric this time.
– Kupari USA 🇺🇸 🇫🇮 (@KupariUsa) November 10, 2020
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