NASA presents new plan to bring stuff home from Mars. Will, among other things, send two new mini-helicopters to the red planet.

Yesterday, NASA held a press conference where they presented an updated plan on how they intend to transport samples home from Mars. It’s about the samples that the Mars rover Perseverance has started collecting since it landed on Mars last year.

Under the new plan, which also involves the European Space Agency ESA, NASA will send two spacecraft to Mars to be used to transport Perseverance’s samples back to Earth. The Sample Retrieval Lander will land on Mars and carry two mini-helicopters based on the same design as NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter. The lander will also carry the rocket-like sample container Mars Ascent Vehicle where ESA’s Sample Transfer Arm is mounted.

The two mini-helicopters are intended to be used to collect the sample tubes where Perseverance collected material from Mars, while the Sample Transfer Arm will then transfer these to the Mars Ascent Vehicle using the Sample Transfer Arm. The Sample Transfer Arm will also be used to transfer samples directly from Perseverance to the Mars Ascent Vehicle. Once the samples have been transferred to the Mars Ascent Vehicle, it will be launched from Mars to dock with the Earth Return Orbiter, which will then return to Earth with the samples.

The concept image above shows one of the new mini-helicopters, Perseverance, Earth Return Orbiter, Mars Ascent Vehicle and Sample Retrieval Lander with Sample Transfer Arm. According to NASA’s new plan, the idea is for the Earth Return Orbiter to be pushed back to Mars in 2027, while the Mars Ascent Vehicle is scheduled to head there in 2030. If that schedule holds, and all else falls into place, the samples from Perseverance could be back on Earth sometime in 2033.