NASA to send two Ingenuity-like helicopters to Mars to bring samples to Earth

NASA is working with the European Space Agency (ESA) to plan ways to bring to Earth samples collected from the Mars surface by NASA's Mars Perseverance rover. The agency has finished the system requirements review for its Mars Sample Return Program and has shared an updated plan to ferry these samples to Earth.

According to NASA, the advanced mission architecture for the Mars Sample Return campaign takes into consideration a recently updated analysis of Perseverance's expected longevity. The rover will be the primary means of transporting samples to NASA's Sample Retrieval Lander carrying the Mars Ascent Vehicle and ESA's Sample Transfer Arm.

The campaign will no longer include the Sample Fetch Rover or its associated second lander. NASA's Sample Retrieval Lander will include two sample recovery helicopters, which will provide a secondary capability to retrieve samples cached on the Martian surface. The helicopters will be based on the design of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter which has already completed 29 flights on the Red Planet.

In the updated plan to return Mars samples to Earth, the @NASAPersevere rover will bring samples to a lander, where a robotic arm provided by @ESA will load them into an ascent vehicle. Two Ingenuity-class helicopters will act as back-ups. Details: https://t.co/1rQJ8H7D1L pic.twitter.com/HMTd7T5aWC

— NASA Mars (@NASAMars) July 27, 2022

The ESA-provided Earth Return Orbiter and NASA-provided Sample Retrieval Lander remain vital elements of the program architecture, NASA said. They are planned to launch in fall 2027 and summer 2028, respectively, and the Mars samples are expected to arrive on Earth in 2033.

"There are some significant and advantageous changes to the plan, which can be directly attributed to Perseverance's recent successes at Jezero and the amazing performance of our Mars helicopter. Working together on historic endeavors like Mars Sample Return not only provides invaluable data about our place in the universe but brings us closer together right here on Earth," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington.