In this NASA image, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars experimental helicopter lands on the surface of Mars Monday, April 19, 2021. The tiny 4-pound helicopter climbed from the dusty red surface into the thin Martian air on Monday, achieving the first motorized and controlled flight. on another planet (NASA via AP) This photo provided by NASA shows a rock picked up by the Perseverance rover on Mars. /NASA-AP
NASA plans to return 30 Martian rock samples to Earth by 2033, the agency said Wednesday, and is sending two small helicopters to help the mission.
The Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars in February 2021, has so far collected 11 samples as part of its search for signatures of ancient life.
But bringing them back for detailed laboratory study on Earth is proving to be a very complex task.
Until now, NASA had planned to send another rover to Mars to collect Perseverance’s samples and then take them to a robotic lander equipped with its own rocket, called the Mars Ascent Vehicle.
This, in turn, would shoot the samples into orbit where they will be picked up by a European spacecraft.
Now, however, the second “Sample Fetch Rover” has been abandoned, and Perseverance itself will deliver the precious cargo directly to the lander, which will use a robotic arm to extract it.
But since NASA always plans for contingencies, it has a back-up plan in case Perseverance becomes immobilized.
The lander, which should launch from Earth in 2028 and land on Mars in the mid-2030s, will also carry two mini-helicopters.
In this NASA image, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars experimental helicopter lands on the surface of Mars Monday, April 19, 2021. The tiny 4-pound helicopter climbed from the dusty red surface into the thin Martian air on Monday, achieving the first motorized and controlled flight. on another planet /NASA-AP
Perseverance brought with it its own helicopter, called Ingenuity, which made the first powered flight on another world, and has now made a total of 29 sorties.
The two new helicopters will be slightly heavier, equipped with wheels to be able to move also on the ground and will come with a small arm that will allow them to retrieve the samples.
In this scenario, Perseverance would first drop the samples on the ground, the helicopters would pick them up, and then place them next to the ascent vehicle.
The orbiter should return to Earth in the Utah desert in 2033.