Context

NASA’s Perseverance Rover, named Percy, in 2023 created the first “sample depot on Mars” by deploying ten rock sample tubes. 

• These tubes are intended to be brought back to Earth as part of the Mars Sample Return mission.
• Challenges for Mars Sample Return mission: The return program has been described as highly constrained and challenging due to the huge cost burden and execution schedule in 2040. 
  • NASA is collaborating with internal departments to formulate a fresh strategy grounded in innovative and established technology. 

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Mars Sample Return Mission

• About: It aims to deliver material from the Martian surface to Earth.
• NASA and ESA Collaboration: Both NASA and the European Space Agency are working together on it.
• Transporting Samples for Mars Ascent: ESA’s “fetch” rover is supposed to take the samples collected by Perseverance and take them to a NASA-provided Mars ascent vehicle which will then launch into Mars’s orbit. 
• Bringing Samples Back to Earth: Then, an Earth Return Orbiter will take these samples from the ascent vehicle and bring them back to Earth.

About Perseverance Rover

• Objective:  To study signs of ancient life, and collect samples of soils & rocks that can be sent back to Earth for future missions.
• Mission Duration: At least one Mars year (approximately 687 Earth days)
• Launched: July 30, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.