Perseverance Rover Prepares to Drop Off Mars Samples for Return Mission

Perseverance Rover Prepares to Drop Off Mars Samples for Return Mission

The Perseverance rover is a well-equipped robot with a gaggle of cameras, multiple spectrometers, and even a little box that makes oxygen. You can’t get every possible scientific instrument on a Mars-bound rover, though. To really understand the red planet, we need to get samples back to Earth, and Perseverance is preparing to take the next step in making that happen. NASA and the ESA have agreed on a location for Perseverance to deposit the first sample cache, which could be retrieved a few years down the line in the NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return Campaign.

During its time on Mars, Perseverance will analyze numerous samples with the tools at its disposal, but the team is also carefully curating a collection of samples that will come back to Earth. The rover was designed with an innovative sample caching system, which packages up rock cores in pristine metal tubes that will protect them from contamination on the return journey. So far, Perseverance has collected 14 rock-core samples in the tubes. The robot has several dozen sample tubes at its disposal.

NASA and the ESA have agreed that the first batch of samples will be deposited at a site known as Three Forks, near the base of the ancient river delta in Jezero Crater. The mission to retrieve the samples is still evolving, so the team has to make some guesses about how the Return Campaign will work.

Perseverance Rover Prepares to Drop Off Mars Samples for Return Mission

A few months ago, the agencies updated the plan to drop a second rover that was supposed to fly with the return vehicle. Now, Perseverance will be the primary means of getting samples to the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV). It will also have a pair of helicopters based on Ingenuity’s wildly successful design. The tube cache at Three Forks will act as a backup in the event Perseverance cannot rendezvous with the MAV or an issue pops up in the sample caching system.

While Perseverance drops off its first collection of samples, engineers back on Earth have begun the process of testing hardware for the return campaign. In what is known as “Phase B,” the team is working to develop prototypes that will eventually become the final flight hardware, which will hopefully have no defects or software glitches. There’s enough that can go wrong without hardware failures. After landing in Jezero Crater, the MAV will deposit the recovered tubes into a rocket that blasts them into orbit. At that point, an ESA spacecraft will have to pick them up and make its way back to Earth. If all goes as planned, the samples could be back on Earth as soon as 2033.

Continue reading

Interview: NASA’s Adam Steltzner Talks Perseverance and Why We Shouldn’t Colonize Mars
Interview: NASA’s Adam Steltzner Talks Perseverance and Why We Shouldn’t Colonize Mars

NASA's Perseverance rover is set to touch down on Mars in the coming days, and we had the opportunity to talk to one of the people who had a hand in bringing this mission to fruition.

WATCH: Perseverance Lands on Mars Today in ‘7 Minutes of Terror’
WATCH: Perseverance Lands on Mars Today in ‘7 Minutes of Terror’

It's almost time for Perseverance to join Curiosity on the surface of Mars. Here's how to watch the landing.

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Successfully Lands on Mars
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Successfully Lands on Mars

NASA used Curiosity as a model for this new robot, but its instrument suite is upgraded to scour the red planet for signs of ancient life. This mission will also be the first leg in a three-part process to get bits of Mars back to Earth for more intense study. And it all starts today.

NASA Releases Incredible Perseverance Rover Landing Video
NASA Releases Incredible Perseverance Rover Landing Video

NASA's Perseverance rover has been on the surface of Mars for several days, giving the team here on Earth time to run system checks and download preliminary data from the robot. The agency has now released the first large batch of media from the mission, including hundreds of still images and the first video and audio ever recorded on Mars.