NASA‘s Perseverance Mars rover has been diligently collecting samples that could potentially provide evidence of ancient alien life. However, the original plan to bring these samples back to Earth through NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission has proven to be more costly and time-consuming than anticipated. The mission is now projected to cost $11 billion and take two decades. As a result, NASA is now seeking alternative solutions from companies to bring these samples back to Earth.
Perseverance Rover’s Mission
The Perseverance rover was sent to Mars with the ambitious task of collecting samples. The $2.4 billion mission landed the rover in Jezero Crater, an ancient lake site, making it an ideal location to search for fossils of Martian microbes that may have existed when the planet was lush with lakes and rivers. The rover has successfully secured 24 samples so far, but the challenge now lies in how to bring them back to Earth for analysis.
Challenges with the Original Plan
NASA’s original design for the retrieval mission, known as Mars Sample Return, has proven to be problematic. The agency is now seeking innovative ideas from companies to help bring the samples back to Earth. The original plan, which involved launching two rockets towards Mars, one carrying a lander and the other an orbiter, was described as “mind-bendingly complicated” by David Parker, director of space exploration at the European Space Agency. The projected cost of the mission has now risen to between $8 to $11 billion, and it is estimated that it would take two decades to bring the samples back to Earth.
Seeking New Solutions
NASA is now calling for proposals from companies or laboratories with ‘tried-and-true’ technology to help bring the samples back to Earth. The agency is hoping to receive short proposals by May 17, after which a few competitors will be selected to further develop their ideas over a 90-day period. The complete proposals are expected to be on NASA’s desk by late fall or early winter.
Conclusion
The return trip from Mars to Earth will undoubtedly be a technological leap, regardless of the approach taken. As NASA’s head of Science Mission Directorate, Nicola Fox, stated, “We’ve never launched from another planet, and that’s actually what makes Mars Sample Return such a challenging and interesting mission because it really is the first of a kind.”
