The mission Mars Sample Return of the NASA and of theESA must bring back to Earth the samples currently collected on Martian soil by the Perseverance rover. The study of the pre-requisites for carrying out this important recovery of samples, however, leads to modifying the plans.
Initially, the collection was to be carried out by a system bringing down to the surface of Mars a lander with a system of ascent into orbit and a rover proceeding to the recovery of the precious samples.
After study, the collection rover is abandoned in favor of two helicopters designed on the model of the model Ingenuity sent on the previous mission and whose twin-propeller design proved to perform very well in the tenuous atmosphere of the red planet, making 29 flights and having been able to operate more than a year beyond the time initially planned.
Too bad for Airbus which had been responsible for carrying out the studies of the Mars Sample Fetch rover but which remains a contributor to other parts of the European part of the mission.
Two helicopters rather than a new rover
The two flying machines will participate in the collection by supporting the Perseverance rover which will in fact become the sample recovery robot. The mission still includes the ERO orbiter (Earth Return Orbiter) of the ESA to ensure the return to Earth by 2033.
NASA can therefore do no better than to postpone this mission for two years, which leaves the field open to China to try to do better. The latter is planning its own collection mission (less complex than that of NASA) with a return of samples to Earth from 2031.
In the meantime, Perseverance has already taken 11 rock samples and 1 from the Martian atmosphere since arriving in the Jezero crater in early 2021.
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