NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) want to send two helicopters to the planet Mars, to the Jezero Crater, where they will collect samples and take them to a nearby lander.
It is a really exciting mission, since for the first time they are thinking about the return of samples from Mars, about taking stones from Mars to Earth for analysis, which would help to better understand the geology of the neighboring planet, since it could be dated the absolute age of the Martian samples.
The experience of going back and forth will also be enriching, as it will be the first step for more complex missions in the future. The name of the mission is “Mars Sample Return”, and in fact it started when the Perseverance began to collect rocks in small tubes (it already has 10 tubes full) with the aim of bringing them to Earth in the future.
The fact is that, while the mission to bring the samples progresses, NASA also wants to send two additional helicopters as backup, in case something happens to Perseverance. The Ingenuity that landed on Mars with Perseverance has already made 24 more flights than originally planned, and has made it clear that the idea is a good one.
These two new helicopters will be slightly heavier, and will have wheels so they can go on the surface. They will also have an arm to grab tubes from the surface, tubes weighing just 150 grams that they will take about 700 meters to the lander.
So you can already imagine what the scenario will be like. Samples are currently being collected and left on the Martian soil. Helicopters with wheels will pick them up and fly them to the module that will be in charge of bringing them to Earth, it’s that “easy”.
With this new organization, it is intended to save money, although we are still talking about billions of dollars invested.
The current plan is to launch the Earth Return Orbiter in 2027 and the Sample Retrieval Lander in 2030, so that until 2033 we won’t see the samples here on Earth.
