Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 27
return mission for decades. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory
completed the first MSR study in 1967, as a response to a
1966 NASA study that explored a piloted Mars flyby mission
with a robotic sample retriever, says author and spaceflight
historian David S. F. Portree. " JPL sought to prove
that a wholly robotic sample retriever would
be as effective as and less complex (and less
costly) than the planned piloted/robotic
hybrid sample return. "
NASA's Perseverance rover is the
first step in the MSR process. The rover
landed inside Jezero Crater sky crane-
style in 2021 and has been meticulously
collecting samples from various sites,
depositing them in tubes on the Martian
surface for return to Earth at a later date.
Pristine samples of Mars are vital for
understanding the history and formation of
the Red Planet. Jezero samples would be especially
valuable, as the crater floor shows signs of both flowing and
standing water early in the planet's history. Perseverance has
had to navigate a jumble of boulders and what looks like an
ancient mudflow.
Right now, the plan is that a future spacecraft will land,
collect the lightsaber-like sample tubes, and load them on
a return vehicle. This will then rendezvous with a vehicle
provided by the European Space Agency, which would be waitROCK
CORE An image of the rock core nicknamed Otis Peak, collected
by Perseverance on June 12, 2023. The varied colors come from
individual minerals and rock fragments.
SAMPLE DROP The Perseverance rover stands over the first of the
sample-bearing tubes that it has left on Mars's surface. They await
pickup by a future spacecraft. Each tube is about 18 cm long.
ing in Mars orbit. That vehicle would carry the capsule back
to Earth in a manner similar to the maneuver OSIRIS-REX
performed.
It's a complicated mission for sure. In fact, MSR may
ultimately cost in excess of $10 billion, well over the
original $4.4 billion estimate cited in 2020 by an
independent review board - if it survives the
budget axe, that is. As of this writing, the
mission could suffer a federal budget cap
that reduces its 2024 budget to about onethird
that of the previous year. Congressional
delays in approving a larger budget
led JPL to lay off more than 500 employees
in early February.
Other missions have faced financial
crises before and still made it to the launch
pad - and produced great science. What
MSR's fate will be remains unclear, but the
sample tubes will always be there, waiting.
What a Ride
There are also a few potential missions in the works by other
countries. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO),
for example, plans to carry out a lunar sample-return mission
with its next Chandrayaan 4 mission, launching sometime
around 2028.
It has been a long journey - especially for the spacecraft
and the researchers involved! But it has been great to see
these tiny dots of light in the sky turn into real worlds that
we can finally reach out and touch.
¢ DAVE DICKINSON has covered the spaceflight beat for S&T
for nearly a decade and would love to one day see Mars from
the surface of Phobos.
sk yand tele scope .o r g * JULY 2024 27
SAMPLE: NASA / JPL-CALTECH; ROVER ABOVE TUBE: NASA / JPL-CALTECH / MSSS
http://skyandtelescope.org
Sky & Telescope - July 2024
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - July 2024
Contents
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - Cover1
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - Cover2
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 1
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - Contents
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 3
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 4
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 5
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 6
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 7
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 8
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 9
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 10
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 11
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 12
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 13
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 14
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 15
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 16
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 17
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 18
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 19
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 20
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 21
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 22
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 23
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 24
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 25
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 26
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 27
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 28
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 29
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 30
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 31
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 32
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 33
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 34
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 35
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 36
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 37
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 38
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 39
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 40
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 41
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 42
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 43
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 44
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 45
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 46
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 47
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 48
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 49
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 50
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 51
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Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 55
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 56
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Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 72
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 73
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Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 84
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - Cover3
Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - Cover4
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