NASA’s perseverance rover was on the surface of Mars for almost eight months now, and at that time, he had taken Martiian Rock samples to determine what secrets could be contained in. Perseverance, however, will not analyze this sample itself on the surface of Mars, but NASA and the European space agency (ESA) work on a multi-mission schedule to bring samples back to earth for this analysis.
This mission, nicknamed, “Mars sample returns,” is still developed, but NASA and ESA have been aware of the logistical problems lying in front of them in bringing this sample back to earth. As explained in a new post on the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab website, Mars’s sample returns demanded that many missions send, landers, and even new rovers to Mars.
The way NASA explains it, that the new Rover will collect a sample of perseverance, which will then be loaded into the tip of the rocket by the robot arm in the landing. From there, the sample will be transported to the orbiter, where they will be safely packaged to travel back to earth. By analyzing this sample on earth, scientists will have access to Lab technology that cannot be sent to Mars.
Of course, this is not as simple as packing samples in the bottle and sending it back to earth. Even though it was safe to say that NASA was sure it would not be sent back the living Martian organism, still had to ensure that the samples were not contaminated on the way home and would not pollute anything on their arrival.
In today’s post, NASA explained the challenge in ensuring the core sample of this stone was sent back in a closed and safe container that would not allow the dust of Mars. One NASA solution was experimenting by involves packaging the sample into the titanium bottle and then sealed it with a process called brazing, where the metal melts it to basically glue into the bottle and sterilize the dust caught in the stitch.
“Among our biggest technical challenges today are a few inches of melting metal at around 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (or 538 degrees Celsius) we have to keep this extraordinary Mars sample under the hottest temperatures they might experience on Mars, which is around 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius), “said Brendan Feehan, a system engineer with the Goddard team developed a system to restore this sample to earth. “The initial results of testing our brazing solutions have confirmed that we are on the right path.”
NASA’s work with this rock sample from Mars can open the way to restore samples from all kinds of celestial objects in the solar system. It doesn’t sound like it will be an easy job, but it seems that NASA is on the right track to find out. However, even with the ongoing work, it will be many years before we get the sample back to earth, so we will make you posted when NASA gets closer to the goal. Meanwhile, see the conceptual animation of what such a mission may be seen in the video pinned above.