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An unofficial robotic space competition seems to be taking place concerning the Red Planet. The United States and China are developing plans to return valuable materials from Mars to Earth through their respective Mars Sample Return (MSR) projects.
For the U.S., events are unfolding in real time on Mars. NASA’s Perseverance rover is actively traversing Jezero Crater, collecting and securing prime samples of Mars for future retrieval by an MSR mission. However, in the beginning, NASA encountered a dilemma regarding limited budgets and timelines. The financial estimate for the MSR program ultimately exceeded $11 billion. Furthermore, NASA projected that samples of Martian soil, rock, and atmosphere would not reach Earth until 2040.
This strategy, outlined by NASA in collaboration with its MSR partner, the European Space Agency (ESA), was deemed unacceptable by NASA’s leadership. Consequently, a series of studies were initiated, both internally and externally, aimed at identifying methods to reduce MSR expenses and accelerate the timeline for returning crucial Martian specimens to Earth. Now, an additional assessment by an independent committee is anticipated to further influence the MSR initiative.
MSR Review Panel
The fresh evaluation is being led by the MSR Strategy Review Panel, chaired by Maria Zuber, a planetary scientist from MIT. The panel is examining studies conducted by industry experts, a team from various NASA centers, the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
This team will provide NASA with foundational plans for the campaign, along with related cost and schedule projections.
The results of their findings will soon be communicated by NASA.
“Currently, the Mars Sample Return Strategy Review panel is preparing a final report for NASA’s associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, expected before the conclusion of [2024]. NASA looks forward to sharing more Mars Sample Return updates in early 2025,” stated Karen Fox, a NASA representative, in response to a Space.com inquiry.
Zuber and her team will evaluate all study outputs, focusing on a primary question: Can America’s Mars Sample Return project be salvaged?
Exploring the Red Planet
A significant concern for Martian sampling is China’s Tianwen-3 mission, which may procure specimens for analysis on Earth around 2031.
A recent research paper details that the Tianwen-3 spacecraft will involve two launches in approximately 2028, targeting distant Mars.
According to the study, which has been published in the National Science Review journal, mission planners are currently investigating the optimal sites on Mars for sampling, the types of samples to collect, and the methods for using the gathered materials.
At China’s Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, the mission’s chief scientist, Hou Zengqian, along with lead designer Liu Jizhong and their team, are meticulously designing their exploratory strategy. “Our primary scientific objective is to search for signatures of life on Mars,” they clarify.
However, will China’s Mars mission function as a one-stop collection operation, or will it utilize other equipment for sample retrieval upon arrival at the Red Planet? So far, specific details remain limited.
Critical questions
Meanwhile, the MSR situation in the United States is under vigorous scrutiny during discussions amongst the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG). This group serves as a community-driven, interdisciplinary forum for inquiry and analysis to support NASA’s Mars exploration aims.
“The NASA/ESA initiative regarding MSR aims to address as many different high-priority scientific queries concerning Mars as possible from a single site – Jezero Crater,” noted MEPAG chair, Victoria Hamilton, who is also a prominent planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
“Searching for signs of ancient biosignatures answers one of those queries, but it is just one among many scientific inquiries that returning samples from Mars can resolve, and the decision to gather samples from Jezero Crater reflects this perspective,” Hamilton explained. “MEPAG has not publicly stated a position on China’s MSR plans.”
Carefully chosen samples
According to Hamilton, “scientifically-selected” encompasses considerations such as gathering samples that represent diverse geological environments/processes, finding bedrock or other in-situ materials to sample while providing essential context information, “and specifically targeting areas where ancient biosignature preservation is probable.”
Discarded concept
Regardless, Hamilton added that returning any samples from Mars will undoubtedly offer new insights, “but not every site yields samples of equivalent significance.”
The scientific community has largely moved away from the notion of a “grab bag” site, partly due to the Mars Pathfinder mission in 1997 landing in an area lacking intact bedrock. “Results derived from analyzing adjacent loose rocks were challenging to interpret without their original context,” Hamilton mentioned.
In summary, the collaborative approach taken by NASA and ESA with MSR has been focused on returning the highest possible quality samples, Hamilton remarked, “indicating that MSR may not be the first Mars sample return mission.”
China’s advancements
Bruce Jakosky, a veteran Mars researcher and senior research scientist at the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, asserted,
“Any sample is preferable to none,” Jakosky told Space.com, “but the collection of samples gathered by Perseverance is far superior to any grab sample or limited range rover operation one could conduct.”
Meticulously chosen samples encompassing various material types are vastly more valuable than a single rock fragment or a solitary soil sample, Jakosky clarified. “In that sense, scientifically, I do not concern myself about whether the Chinese will outpace us. I believe that all scientific endeavors are valuable. The question becomes a political one of whether we should permit the Chinese to surpass us,” he stated.
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