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Agence France-Presse

Nasa plans to bring 30 Martian rock samples back to Earth in 2033, the agency said Wednesday – and is sending two small helicopters to help the mission.
The anouncement of Nasa’s planned date comes as China aims to to be the first nation to deliver Martian samples to Earth by 2031.
Nasa’s Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars in February 2021, has so far collected 11 samples as part of its hunt for signatures of ancient life.
But bringing them back for detailed lab study on Earth is proving to be a highly complex task.
Up until now, Nasa was planning on sending another rover to Mars to pick up the samples from Perseverance then bring them to a robotic lander equipped with its own rocket, called the Mars Ascent Vehicle.
This in turn would fire the samples into orbit where they would be collected by a European spaceship.
Russia’s decision to withdraw from ISS catches Nasa off guard
Now, however, the second “Sample Fetch Rover” has been scrapped and Perseverance itself will deliver the precious cargo directly to the lander, which will use a robot arm to extract it.
But since Nasa always plans for contingencies, it has a backup plan in case Perseverance becomes immobilised.
The lander, which should launch from Earth in 2028 and land on Mars in mid-2030, will also carry two mini helicopters.

Perseverance brought with it its own helicopter, called Ingenuity, which carried out the first powered flight on another world, and has now made a total of 29 sorties.
The two new helicopters will be a little heavier, equipped with wheels to be able to move on the ground as well, and come with a small arm allowing them to recover the samples.
In this scenario, Perseverance would first drop the samples on the ground, the helicopters would pick them up, then place them next to the ascent vehicle.
The orbiter would be set to return to Earth in the Utah desert in 2033.
China aimed to send two spacecraft – one comprising a lander and ascent vehicle, and the other an orbiter and re-entry capsule – to the red planet in 2028, according to Sun Zezhou, chief designer of China’s first Mars mission Tianwen 1 as well as the Chang’e 3 and Chang’e 4 lunar missions.
The rocks will be delivered into Mars’ orbit and the mission will head home around October 2030, arriving on Earth in July 2031.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


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Space

Nasa details plans to bring back Mars rock samples by 2033, two years behind China

Two new helicopters will be modeled after Nasa’s successful Ingenuity (pictured), which has made 29 flights since arriving with Perseverance at Mars early last year. File photo: Nasa

Perseverance already has gathered rock samples. Photo: AFP

‘Magnetic shields’ could help bacteria survive on Mars, Chinese scientists say

Mars is exposed to high levels of radiation and has a much thinner atmosphere than Earth. Photo: Shutterstock 

In 2020, scientists launched a scientific balloon to Earth’s lower near space, exposing a box of bacteria to solar UV radiation for hours. Photo: Handout

It’s a wrap for China’s Tianwen-1 Mars mission, but rover and orbiter still ready to work

China’s space agency released new photos of Mars taken by the Tianwen-1 probe to mark the completion of the country’s first mission to the planet on Wednesday. Photo: CNSA

China’s Mars mission on track to lead the world in retrieving Martian rocks by 2031, says programme veteran

China’s Mars rover Zhu Rong is pictured next to the landing platform with a Chinese national flag on it, taken by a remote camera on Mars in June 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/China National Space Administration

Sun Zezhou is chief designer of China’s first Mars mission Tianwen 1 and the Chang’e 3 and Chang’e 4 lunar missions. Photo: China State Council Information Office

China’s Zhu Rong rover finds evidence there could have been water on Mars more recently than thought

Evidence of water has been found in mineral samples from 700 million years ago collected by China’s Mars rover. Photo: China National Space Administration via Xinhua

News

World

United States & Canada

Nasa to launch two more mini helicopters to Mars to help return rocks by 2033
The new helicopters would have wheels and grappling arms to collect samples


The announcement of Nasa’s planned date comes as China aims to to be the first nation to deliver Martian samples to Earth by 2031.


Science

China's space programme

Nasa (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

Nasa details plans to bring back Mars rock samples by 2033, two years behind China

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Nasa to launch two more mini helicopters to Mars to help return rocks by 2033 The new helicopters would have wheels and grappling arms to collect samples

Nasa to launch two more mini helicopters to Mars to help return rocks by 2033

The new helicopters would have wheels and grappling arms to collect samples