NASA reveals its plan to return Martian samples to Earth in 2033

POT on Wednesday detailed how it will return about 30 Martian rock samples to Earth in 2033, a plan that now includes sending two new helicopters to the Red Planet.

Rover perseverance, who landed on Mars a year and a half ago, he had already collected 11 rock samples.

But to return them to Earth so that they can be studied in detail for traces of ancient life. result be a challenging mission requiring multiple steps.

Changes in plans for Mars

So far, NASA has planned to send another rover to Mars, which will collect the samples collected by Perseverance and deliver them to the lander. This module, in turn, would carry a mini-rocket ready to launch samples into orbit around the red planet in 2031.

But NASA decided that there would be no second rover. Instead, the Perseverance itself, which has shown good performance, called the Mars Ascent Vehicle, will approach the rocket.

Samples will be taken from perseverance using a robotic arm built by the European Space Agency (ESA) and integrated into the lander as previously planned.

But as a precaution, a workaround has been provided in case perseverance by that time immobilized.

The lander, which should launch from Earth in the summer of 2028 and reach Mars in mid-2030, in addition to a mini-rocket and a robotic arm, two small helicopters will be attached to it.

AT Mars there is already a helicopter called Ingenuity. Its performance exceeded all expectations: it made 29 flights instead of the five originally planned.

The two new helicopters will be slightly heavier, equipped with wheels for ground movement and a small arm that will allow them to retrieve samples that can weigh up to 150 grams.

In this case samples will be released perseverance earth lifted by helicopters and delivered to the lander a few days later.

There, they will also be picked up by a manipulator that can stretch up to two meters and placed in a mini-rocket.

The samples will finally be transferred to the orbiter previously located around Marswhich should start from the Earth in 2027.

And then home

Once the payload is recovered, this orbiter will return to Earth to land in the Utah Desert in 2033.

perseverance It has a total of 43 sample storage tubes. Soon a dozen will be thrown onto the Martian soil to form an emergency supply. The remaining 30 are subject to restoration. (AFP)

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