Airbus to lead next stage of Sample Fetch Rover development
The European Space Agency has chosen Airbus to develop the next phase of Sample Fetch Rover, a four-wheeled vehicle that will collect samples from the surface of Mars.
Mars Sample Return is a joint NASA/ESA programme to return samples from the Red Planet. NASA’s 2020 Mars rover mission Perseverance (which is set for launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida between July 20 - August 11) will collect Martian soils and rock samples and leave them on the surface in small metal tubes. In 2026 NASA will launch an ESA rover to Mars to collect these tubes.
UK space: A new world of opportunity
Due to land in 2028, the rover will then travel an average of 200 metres a day for six months to retrieve the samples. It will collect up to 36 tubes, carry them back to the lander and place them in a Mars Ascent Vehicle which will launch them into orbit around Mars. The Earth Return Orbiter, a spacecraft developed by ESA with a Nasa payload, will collect the samples from Martian orbit and return them to Earth.
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