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NASAhas announced two potential design for retrieve rocks fromMarsthat may contain evidence of alien life .
Since 2021 , NASA ’s Perseverance rover has been in use pull in rocks and sediment in an ancient Martian lakebed . However , NASA is n’t sure how to get these sample back to Earth for analysis .
Photomontage of tubes containing Martian samples that NASA plans to bring back to Earth.
The original Mars Sample Return Program forebode for collect the Perseverance samples by 2033 , butdelays and spiraling costsforced NASA back to the drawing board last year . NASA will now explore two new landing place scheme for retrieving the rock samples before deciding on which one to act on in 2026 , according to astatementreleased on Tuesday ( Jan. 7 ) .
" Pursuing two likely paths forward will ensure that NASA is capable to bring these sample back from Mars with significant cost and schedule preservation compare to the previous plan,“Bill Nelson , NASA executive , said in the statement . " These sampling have the potential to change the way we realise Mars , our universe , and – finally – ourselves . "
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The hunt for life on Mars
There ’s no guarantee that liveliness ever be on Mars , but if it did , then it ’s possible the Perseverance rovermay already have found mark of itin the Jezero crater lakebed . Scientists wo n’t know for trusted what ’s in the sampling until they get them back to Earth and study them in a laboratory .
NASA ’s Mars Sample Return Program was initially think to cost $ 7 billion , but when the mission ’s judge price tag climbed to $ 11 billion — an upper - conclusion estimatecalculated by an independent recapitulation board — and was jell to be delayed until 2040 , the agency announce a major course of study overhaul , Live Science ’s sister siteSpace.comreported .
In September 2024 , NASA accepted 11 sample return proposition from investigator and private caller to vamp the curriculum . NASA will explore and evaluate two of these proposals as part of the latest announcement .
Two paths forward
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The first option relies on a tried and test landing place organization purpose postulate arocket - power sky crane , which uses cable television service to lower down the lander . NASA used this method to land the Perseverance wanderer on Mars in the first blank space , and it ’s figure to be between $ 6.6 billion and $ 7.7 billion . The second choice relies on new commercial capabilities from private industry and is figure to be between $ 5.8 billion and $ 7.1 billion . NASA did n’t talk over the commercial option in detail because of worry about proprietary technologies and designs , Space.comreported .
disregardless of which method NASA chooses , the landing place organization will apply a belittled , limited version of theMars Ascent Vehicleto carry the rock sample into compass . TheEuropean Space Agency ’s Earth Return Orbiter — aplanned spacecraftthat will launch no sooner than 2027 — will then collect and channelize the samples back to Earth .
" Mars Sample Return will grant scientists to understand the planet ’s geological history and the evolution of climate on this barren planet where aliveness may have exist in the past times and shed light on the earlysolar systembefore sprightliness began here on Earth,“Nicola Fox , associate executive for the NASA Science Mission Directorate , articulate in the statement . " This will also prepare us to safely send thefirst human Explorer to Mars . "
