“We are bringing a piece of Mars back to Earth” said NASA
To collect samples from the Martian surface, NASA has sent the Perseverance rovers. Scientists and researchers are still looking into the possibility of life on other plants. It has so far collected 11 samples. However, it can be difficult to bring them back to the ground. A plan to send a rover to Mars to bring back samples of Martian rock to Earth was previously made public by the US space agency. It also shared a synopsis of the strategy for how Perseverance will be utilized to move the boulders to a spaceship for the return voyage on its Instagram feed. It announced, “We’re bringing some of Mars back to Earth.”
This week @ NASA, we've been showing how @ISS_Research helps us on Earth, updating our plans to bring samples back from Mars, and testing rocketry for a future @NASAArtemis Moon mission.
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— NASA (@NASA) July 29, 2022
They said that while it passes through Jezero Crater, NASA’s Perseverance rover is now gathering samples from the Red Planet. Two Ingenuity-class helicopters would be deployed as a backup in case anything went wrong, they said when discussing their plan for extracting the samples from Perseverance.
Additionally, they stated that these samples would travel to Mars in our Mars Ascent Vehicle and return to Earth on the Earth Return Orbiter of the @EuropeanSpaceAgency. They will be the first spacecraft to ever return scientific samples from another planet when they land on Earth in 2033, as is currently scheduled.
The Pathfinder lander released Sojourner, the first-ever rover to reach the planet, on July 4, 1997, and this month marks the 25th anniversary of that event. For 83 days, Sojourner conducted surface exploration of Mars, establishing the foundation for later explorers. NASA hopes to have the samples back on Earth by 2033.
Although returning samples from Mars would help researchers better understand how the red planet arose and developed, doing so would be harmful to Earth. In a Google Talk, Dr. Moogega Cooper, an engineer for planetary protection at NASA, stated the following: “Stay away from bringing anything back that would put people at risk. We, therefore, have to do our best to make sure that everything is done appropriately.”