Mars Sample Return – Spaceflight Now

NASA’s next Mars rover will soon ship to Cape Canaveral launch site

January 2, 2020

Fresh off its first terrestrial test drive, NASA’s Mars 2020 rover was displayed to media last week at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California before it’s packed up and flown across the country to Cape Canaveral in February to begin final launch preparations for liftoff in July.

NASA, ESA officials seek formal approvals for Mars sample return mission

September 16, 2019

After crystallizing a partnership to retrieve samples from the surface of Mars and return them to Earth, NASA and European Space Agency officials are seeking government funding commitments before the end of this year to carry out a multibillion-dollar robotic mission that could depart Earth with a pair of rocket launches as soon as 2026.

NASA to replace cracked heat shield in time for Mars 2020 rover launch

April 28, 2018

NASA officials plan to replace the Mars 2020 rover’s heat shield after engineers discovered a crack in the structure earlier this month, but managers anticipate no delay in the mission’s scheduled launch date a little more than two years away.

NASA is counting on long-lived Mars orbiter lasting another decade

April 9, 2018

With NASA’s attention at the red planet shifting to collecting and bringing rock samples back to Earth — a feat that could take a decade with costs that will leave little money for other Mars missions — the space agency is counting on its workhorse Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter continuing its imaging and radio relay functions for nearly 10 more years.

NASA studies mission to return samples from Mars by end of 2020s

August 28, 2017

NASA is examining options to launch a robotic mission as soon as 2026 to pick up rock specimens from the surface of Mars and bring them back to Earth, moving forward the timeline for a sample return mission as the agency postpones plans for a new Mars reconnaissance and data relay orbiter.

Mars entry testbed to fly Monday after weather delays

June 7, 2015

NASA is gearing up to fly a balloon-launched, rocket-powered test vehicle from Hawaii on Monday to wring out the design of a new supersonic parachute and entry probe scientists hope to use on Mars one day.