How Does NASA Get Samples Back From Mars? The Answer May Surprise You!

Amaze Lab

For years NASA’s Perseverance rover has been trudging around the surface of Mars collecting samples that were expected to be returned to Earth sometime in the relatively near future. However, the space agency now says it needs to go back to the drawing board with regards to getting that Martian material back to its scientists.

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00:00For years, NASA's Perseverance rover has been trudging around the surface of Mars collecting

00:08samples that were expected to be returned to Earth sometime in the relatively near future.

00:12However, the space agency now says it needs to go back to the drawing board with regards

00:16to getting that Martian material back to its scientists.

00:20So far, the rover has collected and stashed 24 samples, but they still need to be collected

00:24by a yet-to-be-launched Mars mission.

00:26NASA's original plan was to send two rockets to Mars, one of which would be the largest

00:31lander ever to touch down on the Red Planet, and the other would have remained in orbit.

00:35The lander would grab the samples, and a small rocket would then take off and then eject the

00:39samples towards the orbiter, which was then supposed to catch them and return to Earth.

00:43That project's cost has now increased astronomically, nearly tripling from the $4 billion initial

00:49proposal, and they say it could take until 2040 to get the samples back.

00:52ESA's director of space exploration, David Parker, called the mission mind-bendingly

00:57complicated from the get-go, and he's not wrong.

00:59So how are they going to get them back now?

01:01Well, that's what NASA wants outside space exploration companies, including SpaceX, Lockheed

01:06Martin, and others to figure out.

01:08They announced that they will soon begin looking at bids for tried and true architectures to

01:12get those samples home as quickly and as cheaply as possible, adding that developing new technologies

01:17simply takes too much time.

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