BREVARD COUNTY • FLORIDA — NASA‘s Perseverance Mars Rover has been hard at work on the Red Planet, collecting rock samples that could reveal critical information about the history of Mars. As part of its ambitious Mars Sample Return Program, NASA is now exploring two innovative approaches to bring these samples back to Earth.
The first approach involves utilizing NASA’s proven sky crane technology, which successfully delivered the Perseverance rover to the Martian surface in 2021. This technology could play a key role in returning the precious samples to Earth by deploying a system capable of safely bringing them back to the planet’s surface.
The second approach looks to harness the growing capabilities of commercial space companies. By working with industry partners, NASA is exploring new methods that could potentially lower costs and increase the speed of sample retrieval and return.
“We are committed to bringing the samples back in the most efficient and reliable way,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate…