Elodie Collins
NASA has awarded Rocket Lab a contract to study how it can deliver rock samples from the Martian surface to scientists on Earth. The company said Monday that findings from the study will inform NASA’s Mars Sample Return Program and may result in further industry partnerships in the future.
The study will assess the viability of a simplified, end-to-end mission concept that, according to Rocket Lab, will reduce costs and shorten the sample return date timeline.
“Retrieving samples from Mars is one of the most ambitious and scientifically important endeavors humanity has ever embarked upon,” commented Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck. “We’ve developed an innovative mission concept to make it happen affordably and on an accelerated schedule.”
According to NASA’s original project timeline, the Mars Sample Return Program will retrieve the samples in 2040.
The effort was competitively procured, with the space agency posting a request for architecture proposals from industry in April.
The award follows Rocket Lab’s recent work with NASA to launch the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System on the Electron rocket. The ACS3 will demonstrate structures and materials technologies for solar sail propulsion systems that can power spacecraft one day.
