NASA postpones Mars sample return campaign as it plans to develop second mission lander

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) on Monday announced that they are revising the schedule of the Mars Sample Return campaign that would fetch samples collected by the Perseverance rover. This means that the launch of the NASA-led Sample Retrieval Lander and ESA-led Earth Return Orbiter, which was earlier targeted for launch in 2026 will likely be delayed to 2028. Speaking at the National Academies' Space Studies Board last week, Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science, stated that this decision has been adopted to reduce the overall risk of the mission, SpaceNews reported. 

The sample retrieval process

Under the Mars Sample Return campaign, the agencies have planned to send a lander and an Earth Return Orbiter to Mars which would be used to bring back Perseverance's collected samples. Once the lander touches down near Perseverance, the samples would be transferred from Perseverance to a new rover before loading them into a rocket named the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV). The rocket would then launch from the lander carrying the samples to ESA's orbiter waiting in the Martian orbit. This orbiter, once fitted with the sample container would head back to Earth somewhere around the early-to-mid 2030s. 

NASA-ESA propose a dual-lander idea

According to the new plan prepared by the agencies, the mission will be now split into two separate spacecraft, in order to ensure a safe return and increase the probability of its success. "The Phase A analysis demonstrated that, frankly, the single lander breaks entry, descent and landing heritage. It is actually high risk", Zurbuchen said as per SpaceNews. It is worth noting that the first lander named SRL1 would carry the MAV and a robotic arm for sample transfer, whereas the second would carry a rover to fetch the samples from Perseverance. 

He further revealed that the idea of a dual-lander would help because the single lander approach would need a larger heat shield (5.4 meters in diameter) which would increase the payload fairing of its launch vehicle. “Unproven” entry, descent and landing capabilities of the design also made the engineers think of a better approach. 

Zurbuchen revealed that the dual-lander approach, on the other hand, would use the same landing system as Perseverance and Curiosity rovers and its development would be complete this decade. The first lander would reportedly be designed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), although Zurbuchen did not clarify who would build the second lander.