A long-term goal at NASA has been the ability to robotically haul back to Earth specimens from the Red Planet.
NASA is kickstarting a new initiative for its troubled Mars Sample Return (MSR) program, called the Perseverance Sample Retrieval Architecture, or PSRA in space shorthand. The plan is to establish a fresh NASA strategy for gathering Mars samples collected by the Perseverance rover and launching them back to Earth.
The PSRA initiative was noted on Nov. 9 by Tiffany Morgan, director of the NASA Mars Exploration Program (MEP), during the virtual meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG).
Here's the PSRA strategy:
- Develop impartial recommendations for retrieving the Martian samples collected by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover and deliver them to Earth
- Assess proposed mission requirements
- Review prior lessons learned
- Evaluate current capabilities and acquisition options
Morgan noted that there will be a PSRA strategy team kickoff in January 2027 with a final report due in winter 2027-2028.
Pick-me-ups
The backdrop to the PSRA activity is that there's one busy rover already on the Red Planet snagging and bagging samples.
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover remains on the prowl within Jezero Crater following its touchdown in February 2021. That car-sized robot has been grabbing select specimens from across the area and gingerly dropping the sealed pick-me-ups on the surface of Mars, as well as stuffing them inside the rover itself.
Those collectibles may well hold signs of past life on the enigmatic, dusty and foreboding Red Planet.
NASA and the European Space Agency have for years been intently plotting out plans to send future spacecraft to Mars and haul those Perseverance-plucked bits, pieces, and sniffs of atmosphere to Earth for rigorous inspection here on Earth using state-of-the-art equipment.
Sticker shock
However, over the years, multiple reviews of a NASA Mars Sample Return (MSR) project by independent groups have reported sticker shock findings. Indeed, one last price tag came in at about $11 billion, with samples being returned to Earth in 2040. That finding was deemed by NASA itself as too costly and not doable within an acceptable time frame.
Yet another appraisal group ended up finding it feasible to return Mars samples as early as 2035 for a less costly ship and shoot cost of some $8 billion.
How the PSRA review deals with MSR cost and a multitude of other concerns is in the to-be-determined column.
Why samples now?
In the first place, why are samples from Mars delivered by robotic means? Why not let a human expedition bring back the goods?
Also speaking at MEPAG was Bruce Jakosky of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder and Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington.
Jakosky called for an integrated approach to planning human missions to Mars. He highlighted recommendations stemming from a workshop in which he participated, held last May and organized by Explore Mars, Inc.
That report focused on the impact of MSR on reducing risk for human missions, rather than focusing on the science, Jakosky told Space.
"The purpose is to understand the risk to astronauts and to hardware. The risk includes that from compounds that are present in the soil that are hazardous to astronauts if breathed in," said Jakosky. "This includes perchlorates and chloromethanes that have been identified already, and detection of other species that might be present. It also includes dust that can be breathed in by astronauts and that can affect hardware wear and tear," he said.
During the MEPAG gathering, Jakosky flagged the importance of returning samples prior to human missions to Mars, such as:
- Identify and characterize known hazardous chemicals to ensure astronaut safety (e.g., perchlorates and chloromethanes), and look for possible additional hazardous chemicals
- Characterize very fine dust particles that could cause respiratory issues in astronauts
- Characterize dust and regolith properties for spacesuit design and wear patterns
- Search in advance of the arrival of humans for evidence of extant life that could interact with terrestrial life
- Enhance astronaut effectiveness on the surface and science return from human missions by providing initial context and analysis
- Demonstrate successful round-trip to Mars
- Demonstrate successful round-trip travel, including entry, descent, landing and ascent from the surface of Mars.
- Demonstrate implementation of planetary protection protocols. While human missions would not use the same approaches, what we learn from doing these would make the approach for humans much easier to plan and implement.
China's program
Yet one more forcing factor for NASA in yet another relook at MSR is that China is making progress on its Tianwen-3 Mars Sample Return mission.
According to the China National Space Administration, the country's Tianwen-3 probe will have a lander, an ascender, a service capsule, an orbiter, and an Earth reentry module.
Tianwen-3 appears on track getting the trek underway around 2028 on two Long March-5 heavy-lift carrier rockets from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China's southernmost island province of Hainan.
China's Tianwen-3 mission is dedicated to bring back to Earth roughly 500 grams of Red Planet collectibles in 2031.
