New Mars Forums

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,428

Re: Mars Sample Return (MSR)

Its still going to be a decade to be able to test those samples if all goes well with landing...

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,428

Re: Mars Sample Return (MSR)

NASA chooses Lockheed Martin to build rocket to launch from Mars

The joint mission between NASA and European Space Agency is tied to the Perseverance rover already on the Red Planet that landed in 2021. The agencies’ plan is to launch a lander to Mars as early as 2026 that brings along with it a smaller rover designed to collect the samples that Perseverance is currently gathering, then stick them in what will be the first Mars Ascent Vehicle. That vehicle will then fly the samples up to the ESA-designed Earth Return Orbiter spacecraft, which would bring Martian soil to Earth sometime in the mid-2030s.

The clock is ticking

Mars Ascent Vehicle Integrated System contract with a potential value of $194 million.

A six-year period for the contract begins this month. The company is expected to design, build and evaluate multiple ascent vehicle test units in addition to final spacecraft.

The spacecraft will be small and lightweight, have to fit inside the lander, and will be designed to carry rock, sediment and atmospheric samples back off planet. It will also need to interact with NASA’s Capture, Containment, and Return System payload being carried by the ESA orbiter.

Oldfart1939

Member

Registered: 2016-11-26

Posts: 2,445

Re: Mars Sample Return (MSR)

I suspect that Elon Musk may have a more viable option up his sleeves...

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,428

Re: Mars Sample Return (MSR)

If Musk had just gone and sent his Red Dragon to mars we would already know that his sleeves have a surprise in them but with the way Nasa is protecting its mars interest we are not likely to see a Musk lander that would bring back samples.

Lockheed is no prize in the game and to wait 6 years to see them fail is not what we need. Until they show retro propulsion we will not see them bring back anything from mars.

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Mars Sample Return (MSR)

ESA says it’s “very unlikely” ExoMars will launch this year
https://spacenews.com/esa-says-its-very … this-year/

In a brief statement, ESA all but ruled out a launch that had been planned for late September of the ExoMars mission on Proton launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, raising questions about when, or if, the mission will fly.

“Regarding the ExoMars program continuation, the sanctions and the wider context make a launch in 2022 very unlikely,” the agency said. “ESA’s Director General will analyze all the options and prepare a formal decision on the way forward by ESA Member States.”

Could Musk / SpaceX launch it but also build the Europeans a landing platform?

The ESA ExoMars rover, also named 'Rosalind Franklin' involves the Russian Roscosmos State Corporation. The plan calls for a Russian launch vehicle, an ESA carrier model, and a Russian lander named Kazachok.

Lockheed Martin Not SpaceX Will Be the World's Biggest Rocket Company on Mars??

'This miniature rocket could be the first NASA craft launched from Mars'

https://www.popsci.com/technology/nasa- … velop-mav/
NASA recently chose Lockheed Martin to build the Mars Ascent Vehicle

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-02-28 12:07:25)

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Mars Sample Return (MSR)

Details and 2 flight plans of Mars sample return mission, by Sun Zezhou in Nanjing University. Later this year, the deployed Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter will conduct Martian atmospheric deceleration test as technical verification for Mars return mission.

https://twitter.com/MarsZhurong/status/ … 4523732993

In Chinese language
https://share.api.weibo.cn/share/314999 … 37772.html

Deep dive into an acrimonious dispute b/w German entrepreneurs and Chinese investors that ended w/ a GOP-connected US firm swooping in to snap up the prized asset: licences for low earth orbit satellites that could change the future of connectivity.
https://twitter.com/EleanorOlcott/statu … 9501923328

Next steps of the Chinese Space Station
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD8FNTtVQ3o

Trade between China and other BRICS countries records a 12.1% year-on-year rise
https://twitter.com/ChinaObserver2/stat … 5048520704

China aims to bring Mars samples to Earth 2 years before NASA, ESA mission
https://twitter.com/AJ_FI/status/1538832363081326593

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Mars Sample Return (MSR)

Mars sample return details coming next week, NASA and European Space Agency promise

https://www.space.com/mars-sample-retur … -july-2022

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Mars Sample Return (MSR)

New slide on China's Mars sample return mission.

https://twitter.com/AJ_FI/status/1572630404603203584