This became clear last night during a press conference about the Mars Sample Return program. The program aims to return materials collected on Mars to Earth for further analysis. A wonderful and also necessary plan; such samples can provide a wealth of information about Mars, which we can use to prepare for manned missions to the red planet, for example. Researchers also hope to use the samples to find out once and for all whether there is (or has been) life on Mars.
Scientists are therefore eagerly awaiting the first Mars samples. And last night there was finally an update from NASA about the plans to bring those materials to Earth.
Existing plans are flawed
However, we did not become much wiser. NASA mainly concluded that the existing plans are inadequate and that things must therefore be done differently. But how exactly this should be done remains shrouded in mystery. In fact: NASA itself does not know (yet) exactly and is calling on NASA employees to come up with plans.
What exactly did the 2024 fresh whatsapp number list original plan to bring materials from Mars to Earth look like? Well, quite complex. For example, a huge lander would be sent to Mars: the Sample Retrieval Lander. It would meet the Mars rover Perseverance, which is already driving around Mars.
The original plan
This rover has been collecting materials on Mars since 2021 and would have to bring some of it to the Sample Retrieval Lander. The lander would then take off with those samples and meet the Earth Return Orbiter in orbit around Mars. This orbiter would then have to bring the samples back to Earth, where scientists can study them further.
There Разкриване на силата на застрахователния анализ: изчерпателно ръководство are two reasons why NASA is unhappy with the current plan to bring Mars samples back to Earth. First, the current plan is quite be numbers expensive: it costs about 11 billion dollars – about 10 billion euros – to pick up the materials on the red planet. In addition, the current plan has a fairly long lead time, which means that the samples would not arrive on Earth until 2040. “The conclusion is that an 11 billion dollar budget is too expensive and a return in 2040 is too far away,” says NASA boss Bill Nelson.
