Lockheed Martin wins NASA contract to deliver Mars samples again to Earth
Lockheed Martin’s room division has received a NASA deal to construct the rocket that will return the to start with Mars rock samples to Earth in the 2030s, the US room agency claimed Monday.
The “little, light-weight rocket” will be the initial to consider off from one more earth, bringing back again “rock, sediment and atmospheric samples from the surface of the Pink World,” NASA reported in a assertion.
NASA’s Perseverance Rover has been collecting samples from a variety of Martian regions given that landing on Earth’s neighbor a calendar year in the past.
The objective of the mission is to discover traces of historical lifetime on the Purple World. But these samples will have to be analyzed in laboratories back again on Earth, capable of additional advanced checks than something that can be accomplished on Mars.
The samples will be collected and then released again to Earth in a advanced procedure in which the Lockheed Martin rocket will be a vital element.
The deal for this “Mars Ascent Auto” has a possible price of $194 million, according to NASA.
“The parts are coming with each other to deliver property the 1st samples from yet another earth. As soon as on Earth, they can be analyzed by state-of-the-art applications also elaborate to transportation into house,” explained Thomas Zurbuchen, affiliate administrator for science at NASA headquarters in Washington.
In accordance to the house agency’s options, a mission will be released in 2026 at the earliest to mail the mini-rocket to Mars, carrying an additional rover dependable for accumulating the samples still left powering by Perseverance.
The moment the samples are positioned in the rocket, it will consider off and place them in orbit all over Mars. They will then be captured by an additional vessel despatched there to full the last leg of the journey again to Earth.
This past vessel, as well as the rover that will get better the samples, are being produced underneath the way of the European Room Company.
Lockheed Martin’s room division has received a NASA deal to construct the rocket that will return the to start with Mars rock samples to Earth in the 2030s, the US room agency claimed Monday.
The “little, light-weight rocket” will be the initial to consider off from one more earth, bringing back again “rock, sediment and atmospheric samples from the surface of the Pink World,” NASA reported in a assertion.
NASA’s Perseverance Rover has been collecting samples from a variety of Martian regions given that landing on Earth’s neighbor a calendar year in the past.
The objective of the mission is to discover traces of historical lifetime on the Purple World. But these samples will have to be analyzed in laboratories back again on Earth, capable of additional advanced checks than something that can be accomplished on Mars.
The samples will be collected and then released again to Earth in a advanced procedure in which the Lockheed Martin rocket will be a vital element.
The deal for this “Mars Ascent Auto” has a possible price of $194 million, according to NASA.
“The parts are coming with each other to deliver property the 1st samples from yet another earth. As soon as on Earth, they can be analyzed by state-of-the-art applications also elaborate to transportation into house,” explained Thomas Zurbuchen, affiliate administrator for science at NASA headquarters in Washington.
In accordance to the house agency’s options, a mission will be released in 2026 at the earliest to mail the mini-rocket to Mars, carrying an additional rover dependable for accumulating the samples still left powering by Perseverance.
The moment the samples are positioned in the rocket, it will consider off and place them in orbit all over Mars. They will then be captured by an additional vessel despatched there to full the last leg of the journey again to Earth.
This past vessel, as well as the rover that will get better the samples, are being produced underneath the way of the European Room Company.