Mars sample-return missions

Returning a piece of Mars to Earth is a long-term goal for many space agencies

It now looks certain that samples of Phobos returned to Earth by JAXA will be the first ever obtained from the Mars system. Until recently, it had been hoped that NASA's Mars Sample Return mission would see a lander and a fleet of Ingenuity-style drones dispatched to the Red Planet's Jezero crater to join its Perseverance rover. The plan was for Perseverance and the drones to bring samples to the lander, where they would be placed in a rocket-equipped Mars Ascent Vehicle. After being fired into orbit, they would rendezvous with an Earth Return Orbiter spacecraft built by the European Space Agency, which would dispatch a capsule to travel back to Earth and land in Utah in the 2030s. However, NASA revealed in April 2024 that budget constraints meant it…

You're reading a preview of

BBC Sky at Night United Kingdom (Digital) - 1 Issue, September 2024

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.