NASA Tests Major Mars Mission While Russia Heads Back to Moon

NASA engineers have been conducting tests as part of an effort to design a new lander that could bring the first samples of Martian material back to Earth for a detailed study. On Thursday, the space agency released a video on YouTube showing prototypes of the planned Sample Retrieval Lander's legs and footpads being put through their paces at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California. The lander is part of NASA's and the European Space Agency's joint Mars Sample Return mission, which is expected to launch in 2027. The mission aims to deliver samples that are being collected by NASA's Mars Perseverance rover at its landing site of Jezero Crater to Earth. The returns are expected to arrive on our planet in 2033. The latest updates from NASA about the testing for the Sample Retrieval Lander concept come as Russia launched its first moon mission in nearly 50 years.

A rocket carrying a lunar landing craft blasted off from Russia's Vostochny spaceport in the country's Far East on Friday, the Associated Press reported. The Luna 25 lander is expected to arrive at our natural satellite on August 23. Russia's last moon mission, Luna 24, took place in 1976 when the country was still part of the Soviet Union.

Mars Sample Return Mission

Since NASA's Mars Perseverance rover landed on the Red Planet, it has been exploring the 28 mile-wide Jezero Crater, collecting and caching samples of material. Scientists believe this crater, which was created from a meteorite's impact, was once the site of an ancient lake, probably around 3 to 4 billion years ago. It is thought that the conditions in this lake basin may have been favorable to life. The plan to bring these samples of rock and soil back to Earth for the first time involves a number of steps. First, a Sample Retrieval Lander will touch down in or near Jezero, carrying a small rocket onto which the samples collected by the Perseverance rover would be loaded. The rocket will then launch from the surface of Mars—the first ever to do so—with another spacecraft capturing it in the Red Planet's orbit. This spacecraft will then bring the samples back to Earth. "These first collected and returned samples could answer a key question: did life ever exist on Mars?" a description of the mission reads on NASA's website. "Only by bringing the samples to Earth can we truly answer the question by using the most sophisticated, state-of-the-art labs, at a time when future generations can study them using techniques yet to be invented." One challenge in the design of the Sample Retrieval Lander concept is that the craft would be the largest and heaviest spacecraft to ever touch down on Mars. As well as the rocket, the lander will feature an 8-foot robotic arm that will load sample tubes onto the projectile. It will also carry two mini-helicopters that will serve as backups to retrieve tube samples. As a result, the lander could weigh as much as roughly 5,000 pounds. "There's already a night-and-day difference between this lander and the design we started with," Morgan Montalvo, a JPL engineer working on the development of the lander, said in a statement Thursday. The lander design concept incorporates next-generation parachutes and 12 rocket engines to slow the lander down as it descends. However, it will also need sturdy legs that are capable of absorbing the impact. It is these tests of the prototype legs and footpads that can be seen in the JPL's Thursday video. Newsweek has contacted NASA for comment via email.

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