NASA Mars rover initiates surface placement of sample storage container Assuming collection in Mars sample return plan | site of the space portal sorae

NASA announced on Dec. 21 that it had successfully dropped one of its storage bins containing Martian rocks and other samples from its “Perseverance” Mars rover. NASA plans to place a total of 10 storage vessels on the surface of Mars in one month.

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are currently jointly planning and implementing the “Mars Sample Return” program, which will return samples collected on the surface of Mars to Earth. Until now, Martian rocks could only be examined for meteorites that flew to Earth as meteorites (Martian meteorites) or collected and analyzed locally using equipment installed on Mars probes and rovers. If the Mars sample return program in the United States and Europe is successful, it will be the first time that a sample collected directly on Mars has been brought to Earth.

[▲ Immagine del “Mars Sample Return Project” della National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) e dell’European Space Agency (ESA) (Credit: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech)]

The Mars Sample Return Program consists of three missions: “collection of samples on Mars”, “collection and launch of samples” and “transport of samples to Earth”. The first phase, “sampling on Mars,” is currently underway from Perseverance, which landed in Jezero crater in February 2021 during NASA’s Mars exploration mission, “Mars 2020.” I’m here.

Association:Successfully collected! NASA’s Perseverance Rover Collects First Martian Rock Samples for Future Earth Analysis

Perseverance has a total of 43 tubular containers for storing the collected samples. The plan is to seal the samples in about 30 of these, and 18 storage containers (including one containing an air sample) have been sealed so far.

[▲ Immagine video del progetto di ritorno del campione su Marte]
(Credits: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC/MSFC)

The samples collected by Perseverance are collected in the second phase of the “Sample Collection and Launch” mission operated by NASA’s “SRL” lander, and are launched into orbit around Mars using the small “MAV” rocket . ESA’s ‘ERO’ probe, tasked with the ‘carry sample to ground’ third stage mission, waits in orbit and captures the spherical container containing the sample released by the MAV. The container is housed in the recovery capsule mounted on the ERO and transported to Earth.（※）。

*…SRL: Sample Retrieval Lander, MAV: Mars Ascent Vehicle, ERO: Earth Return Orbiter

There are two ways to retrieve the storage containers containing the samples. One is for Perseverance to transport the container itself and deliver it to the SRL lander, and the other is for it to pick up the dropped container on the ground as a backup by a small helicopter with a robotic arm. In the video above, Perseverance delivers the storage container to the SRL, but if for some reason this method is not available, it will be recovered using a small SRL-mounted helicopter.

[▲ Immagine concettuale di un piccolo elicottero per la raccolta di campioni (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)]

Association:Mars Sample Return Plans in Europe and the United States to install small helicopters to collect sample storage containers

One of the storage vessels containing an igneous rock core taken on January 31, 2022 that fell on December 21st. The first image taken by the “WATSON” camera at the end of the robotic arm shows a storage container lying on the ground about 90 cm below the body of Perseverance.

According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), to operate a small helicopter, each storage container requires a flat area with a diameter of at least 5.5 m with few obstacles such as rocks. 15m. By the way, most of the samples stored in Perseverance are taken in duplicate from the same place, and one of the two storage containers is placed on the surface.

[▲ Test di caduta del contenitore di conservazione del campione]
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

According to the plan in December 2022, ESA’s ERO return-to-Earth probe will be launched in 2027 and NASA’s SRL lander equipped with a small MAV rocket will be launched in 2028. The Mars surface samples collected by Perseverance are expected to be delivered on Earth in 2033.

Source

• Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech, ESA, GSFC, MSFC
• NASA/JPL – NASA’s Perseverance rover deposits the first sample on the surface of Mars
• NASA/JPL – NASA’s Perseverance rover will begin building a repository for Martian samples

Text / Takehiro Matsumura