Cape Canaveral (USA): NASA is launching two more mini helicopters on Mars to bring back samples of Martian rocks and soil to Earth. Under the plan announced Wednesday, NASA’s Perseverance rover will do double duty and carry the caches to the rocket that will launch them from the Red Planet a decade from now. Persistence has already collected 11 samples, with plans to drill more rock. The most recent specimen, a sedimentary rock, holds the greatest promise of holding potential evidence of ancient Martian life, said Arizona State University’s Meenakshi Wadhwa, chief scientist for the recovery effort.
“The bags already have a diversity of materials, so to speak, and are really excited about the ability to bring these back,” she said. If Perseverance breaks down, the two helicopters being built and launched later this decade will load samples on rockets instead.
The helicopters will be modeled after the successful Ingenuity of NASA, which has made 29 flights since making a solid landing on Mars early last year. The helicopter weighs just 4 pounds (1.8 kg). The new versions will have wheels and combat weapons.
NASA officials said Perseverance’s impressive performance on Mars prompted them to abandon their plans to launch a separate Fetch rover. Jeff Gremling, director of NASA’s Mars Sample Return Program, said the revised path ahead is easy. Each helicopter would be designed to lift a sample tube at a time, making multiple trips back and forth. “We believe we can count on persistence to bring back samples and we have added helicopters as a backup instrument,” Gramling said.
NASA is collaborating with the European Space Agency on the recovery mission. If everything goes according to plan, 30 samples from Mars will be destroyed in 2031 and will come to Earth in 2033. Laboratory analysis is needed to see if any samples contain signs of microbial life that may have been present on Mars billions of years ago. Water flowed over the planet.
As for the grounded ExoMars rover, it cannot be retrofitted to help retrieve these samples, said David Parker, director of human and robotic exploration for ESA. It was returned to storage after Russia and Europe broke ties with the project due to the war in Ukraine. Russia had to provide a rocket ride. “A decision on when the rover might be launched on Mars later this decade will not be delayed,” Parker said.