New NASA mission to Mars will return samples from the planet to Earth in 2033

Of Jamie Carter

NASA is sending two helicopters to Mars — but no new rover — as part of a historic trip from Earth to Mars to collect rock samples.

In the 17 months since landing on Mars, the Perseverance rover has collected 11 scientific samples of rock cores and one atmosphere sample.

Once back on Earth, they will help scientists create a geologic record vital to understanding the environmental evolution of Mars and potentially its probiotic chemistry and biology. In short, they may reveal traces of ancient life.

Buoyed by the incredible success of its small unmanned aircraft Ingenuity, which has now completed an impressive 29 flights, NASA announced today that it will launch the long-awaited Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission in 2027, with the first samples of rocks from an alien planet returning to Earth in 2033.

NASA has revealed that it will launch an Earth Return Orbiter in the fall of 2027, a Sample Retrieval Lander in the summer of 2028, and that those samples will arrive back on Earth in 2033.

The new mission architecture reveals some exciting design changes.

The Sample Retrieval Lander platform will carry two “sample retrieval helicopters,” which will help Perseverance collect the samples the rover itself has collected.

By then Perseverance will have been on the Martian surface for nearly a decade. The old plan was to send a brand new vehicle.

Also on the Sample Retrieval Lander’s platform will be a small rocket called the Mars Ascent Vehicle. The new plan calls for Perseverance to return to the platform and place sealed sample tubes in a container in the nose of the rocket. To do this it will use a sample transfer arm manufactured by the European Space Agency (ESA).

The Mars Ascent Vehicle will then launch to rendezvous with the Earth Return Orbiter high above the Martian surface. The Earth Return Orbiter will be the first spacecraft ever to go from Earth to Mars—or any planet—and then back to Earth.

Using both Perseverance and two new helicopters for this mission is a big change in NASA’s plan.

“The conceptual design phase is when every aspect of a mission plan is put under the microscope,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA headquarters in Washington. “There are some significant and beneficial design changes that can be directly attributed to Perseverance’s recent successes at Jezero and the amazing performance of our helicopter on Mars.”

The mission, which will go to collect the samples left scattered in Jezero Crater by NASA’s Perseverance rover, was recently given the go-ahead by the Decadal Survey.

In her report she recommended that the MSR was “the highest scientific priority of NASA’s robotic exploration efforts this decade” and “of fundamental strategic importance to NASA, US leadership in planetary science, and international cooperation.”

However, that report also said that the MSR should not cost more than 20% more than the $5.3 billion allocated to it. This new design—which reduces the need for an all-new rover—could help keep costs as low as possible, though it requires a lot of confidence in Perseverance’s longevity.