According to NASA, two more small helicopters will be sent to Mars to assist in the return of Martian soil and rock samples to Earth. NASA's mission plan states that the Perseverance rover will perform a dual function by delivering the cache to the rocket that will take them off the red planet in ten years.
11 samples have already been collected by Perseverance, and more rock drilling is scheduled. Meenakshi Wadhwa, chief scientist for the retrieval mission at Arizona State University, claimed that the most recent sample, a sedimentary rock, has the best chance of containing potential proof of ancient Martian life.
"There's a diversity of materials already in the bag, so to speak, and really excited about the potential for bringing these back," she said. In the case that Perseverance fails, the two helicopters that will be built and deployed later this decade will carry the samples onto the rocket.
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The helicopters will be based on NASA's Ingenuity, which has been successful and flown 29 times since it and Perseverance landed at Mars early last year. The helicopter only weights 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms). The updated models would come with wheels and grappling attachments.
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Perseverance's outstanding performance on Mars, according to NASA officials, convinced them to abandon their original intention to launch a second fetch rover. The alternative course of action, according to Jeff Gramling, head of NASA's Mars sample return programme, is easier. One sample tube at a time will be lifted by each helicopter, which will make several back and forth journeys. "We have confidence that we can count on Perseverance to bring the samples back and we've added the helicopters as a backup means," Gramling said.
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On the retrieval mission, NASA and the European Space Agency are working together. If all goes according to plan, up to 30 samples could launch from Mars in 2031 and land on Earth in 2033. Any material that might contain evidence of microbial life that may have been on Mars billions of years ago when water may have flowed through the planet needs to be subjected to laboratory investigation.
(With inputs from PTI)
