![]() ![]() The Mars Sample Return Program is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.įor the MAV to be successful, the team performs extensive testing, analysis, and review of MAV’s design and components. Managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, MAV is currently set to launch in June 2028, with the samples set to arrive on Earth in the early 2030s. The samples currently being collected by NASA’s Perseverance Rover during its exploration of an ancient river delta have the potential to reveal the early evolution of Mars, including the potential for ancient life. This strategic partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) features the first mission to return samples from another planet. Mars Sample Return will bring scientifically selected samples to Earth for study using the most sophisticated instrumentation around the world. The team developing MAV conducted successful tests of the first and second stage solid rocket motors needed for the launch. The Mars Ascent Vehicle would be the first launch of a rocket from the surface of another planet. NASA’s Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) recently reached some major milestones in support of the Mars Sample Return program. ![]() Images of the alleged rock sample, though, were initially too dark to make anything out.Īfter all of that, it's a huge relief to see that the process finally worked out.The first rocket launch from the surface of another planet will be accomplished using two solid rocket motors. Then, after sending Perseverance scooting away toward a new target, NASA once again declared success, claiming that Perseverance had actually managed to scoop up and sample rock samples. At first, NASA declared pre-emptive success before realizing that Perseverance had messed up its first attempt - a failure that NASA still blames on the lifeless rock rather than its rock-gathering robot. This is a long-awaited triumph for the rover, which had a surprisingly hard time digging up and storing Martian regolith. "It's a big deal that the water was there a long time." Thrilling Saga "It looks like our first rocks reveal a potentially habitable sustained environment," NASA and Caltech scientist Ken Farley, a researcher on the Perseverance mission, said in the release. New Perseverance data, though, suggests that water was around for quite some time, hinting that Mars once had a stable natural environment. NASA already knew that Jezero Crater, where Perseverance has been roaming around, was likely once the site of a huge lake. ![]() While the bulk of the study will be conducted once those and any future samples make their way back to Earth next decade, Perseverance is already making some important discoveries - chief among them more evidence that Mars once hosted a far more hospitable landscape than it does today. ![]() That also means that the rover has started to conduct some rudimentary geological research on its surroundings, according to a NASA press release. Huge news: NASA confirmed that its Mars-rock-scooping robot, Perseverance, has at long last managed to scoop up some Mars rocks. "It looks like our first rocks reveal a potentially habitable sustained environment." Mission Complete ![]()
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