NASA picks Lockheed Martin to develop rocket for retrieving samples from Mars

US aerospace and defense equipment manufacturer Lockheed Martin has secured a NASA contract to retrieve the rock samples from Mars. According to the contract, the company would develop a small, lightweight rocket named the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV)  to launch rock, sediment, and atmospheric samples from the surface of Mars. According to the report by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the MAV will be launched no earlier than 2026 and would retrieve the Martian samples in the 2030s. It is worth noting that the samples to be brought back to Earth would be the ones collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover, which landed on the red planet in early 2021.

NASA prepares for the $194 million ‘groundbreaking endeavour’ 

The JPL revealed that the Mars Ascent Vehicle Integrated System (MAVIS) contract has a potential value of $194 million. It further stated that the performance period would begin on February 25 and would be extended for six years. According to JPL’s report, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said,

This groundbreaking endeavor is destined to inspire the world when the first robotic round-trip mission retrieves a sample from another planet – a significant step that will ultimately help send the first astronauts to Mars.

As per the contract, Lockheed Martin would provide multiple MAV test units and a flight unit and as NASA says, the MAV needs to be robust enough to withstand the harsh Mars environment. The collaborators are looking to develop a vehicle that must be small enough to fit inside the Sample Retrieval Lander and adaptable enough to work with multiple spacecraft. 

Here's how the retrieval process will work

According to JPL's description, the MAV would be carried by NASA’s Sample Retrieval Lander that would land near or in Jezero Crater to gather the samples collected by Perseverance rover. Once the samples are brought to the lander, they would be transferred to the MAV. The MAV would then launch from the lander to the Martian orbit where the European Space Agency's (ESA) Earth Return Orbiter spacecraft outfitted with NASA’s Capture, Containment, and Return System payload would be waiting. The sample container would then be transferred to the spacecraft for its journey towards Earth. 

"We are nearing the end of the conceptual phase for this Mars Sample Return mission, and the pieces are coming together to bring home the first samples from another planet. Once on Earth, they can be studied by state-of-the-art tools too complex to transport into space", NASA's Thomas Zurbuchen said as per JPL. 

Image: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech