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Tag Archives: Mars sample return
Returning space samples links Apollo 11 and Mars 2020
On July 24, 1969, Apollo 11 command module Columbia splashed down in the Pacific, fulfilling President Kennedy’s goal to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to Earth. Among the mission’s many firsts was the acquisition and … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Apollo 11, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Jezero Crater, JPL, M2020, Mars 2020, Mars 2020 rover, Mars sample return, NASA
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Mars courier: Bringing the samples to Earth
The first round-trip to the Red Planet will see a European orbiter bringing martian samples back to Earth. ESA is opening the door to industry to build the spacecraft that will deliver the precious rocks, dust and gas from Mars … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Capture and Containment and Return System, Earth Return Orbiter, ESA, European Space Agency, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, M2020, Mars 2020, Mars 2020 rover, Mars Ascent Vehicle, Mars sample return, MAV, NASA
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ESA: Mars on Earth — what next?
A Mars Sample Return campaign would bring samples of the Red Planet back to Earth for examination in the best terrestrial laboratories – but choosing the samples and storing them on Mars for later return is only one part of … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged ESA, European Space Agency, Jezero Crater, Mars sample return, NASA
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Europe to Mars — and back!
Europe has been in orbit around Mars for more than 15 years and is almost a year away from launching its first rover mission, but ambitions are already running high to go one step further: returning a sample from the … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged ESA, European Space Agency, ExoMars, ExoMars 2020, ExoMars 2020 rover, Mars Express, Mars sample return, MEX, Oxia Planum, Rosalind Franklin, Roscosmos, TGO, Trace Gas Orbiter
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Defining the goals for collecting Mars samples
Returning samples from the surface of Mars has been a high-priority goal of the international Mars exploration community for many years. Although randomly collected samples would be potentially interesting, they would not be sufficient to answer the big questions that … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged ESA, European Space Agency, ExoMars, ExoMars 2020, ExoMars 2020 rover, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Jezero Crater, JPL, M2020, Mars 2020, Mars 2020 rover, Mars sample return, NASA, Oxia Planum, Rosalind Franklin
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NASA’s $2.4-billion plan to steal a rock from Mars
Ed. note: The following is an except from a story in Nature; full story here. Adam Steltzner rose to engineering stardom in 2012, when NASA’s Curiosity rover plummeted to a perfect landing on Mars, thanks to a daring, fiery manoeuvre … Continue reading
Seeking signs of life and more: NASA’s Mars 2020 rover mission
Ed. note: The following is an except from a story in Eos, published by the American Geophysical Union. Full story here. The next Mars rover will be able to land near rugged terrain, giving scientists access to diverse landscapes. It … Continue reading
‘Adaptive caching’ planned for Mars 2020 rover
This diagram, superimposed on a photo of Martian landscape, illustrates a concept called “adaptive caching,” which is in development for NASA’s 2020 Mars rover mission. [Click image to enlarge in a new tab or window.] In addition to the investigations … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged caching, M2020, Mars 2020, Mars 2020 rover, Mars sample return
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Mars 2020 rover payload selected
The next rover NASA will send to Mars in 2020 will carry seven carefully-selected instruments to conduct unprecedented science and exploration technology investigations on the Red Planet… [These will] conduct geological assessments of the rover’s landing site, determine the potential … Continue reading
HiRISE: Sample terrain near Nili Fossae
Sample terrain near Nili Fossae. Beautiful Mars series.
Posted in Reports
Tagged Beautiful Mars, High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, HiRISE, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars sample return, MRO, NASA, Nili Fossae, University of Arizona
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