Mars Return Sample Mission

[Half Smoke]

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it's quite amazing to me to think about some of the things humans are capable of

The Mars Sample Return Mission is tentatively scheduled for launch in 2027

from an earlier mission a Rover is collecting samples for future return to Earth

Nasa and Esa are collaborating on a follow up mission that would include a Retrieval Lander which would launch the samples aboard the Mars ascent vehicle

once the vehicle reaches Mars orbit an ESA led Earth return orbiter will rendezvous with it and bring the samples back to Earth

the tentative scheduling is for the orbiter to land back on Earth sometime in 2033

the samples will then be analyzed for signs of past life

Mars is about 173 million miles away from Earth

wow


https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-explorati...sample-return/


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[JustRalph]

I say outsource it to Doordash

[Half Smoke]

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below is a truly amazing vid from the Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory showing how these samples will be returned to Earth

the plan is for the samples to land passively inside the Earth Entry Vehicle in the desert sands of Utah, which will help protect against impact forces

the 2nd vid, also from Nasa, is re the mission and the deliberate disposal of the Cassini probe of Saturn via a controlled fall into Saturn's atmosphere

it took almost 7 years for the probe to reach Saturn which is almost one billion miles away from Earth
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YouTube

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YouTube

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[Inner Dirt]

Not as impressive to me as when we put a man on the moon. Back then a computer which had ability of a mid 70's hand held calculator would take up
a one car garage. Computer aided design and machining were in their infancy,
not widely used and not very efficient. When I look at what was accomplished in any era I consider what tools were available for the project.