ESA and NASA to investigate bringing Martian soil back to earth

Whilst the discoveries made by a succession of probes and rovers have transformed our understanding of the solar system, the ability to analyse samples of martian soil in laboratories back on earth was described by one leading planetary scientist as a “mouth-watering prospect” that could shed new light on the planet's history.

According to ESA such a project would require a series of missions from Earth as well as a rocket launch from Mars, but would be able to piggy-back onto existing exploration projects.

READ OUR ARCHIVE FEATURE ON MARS SAMPLE RETURN HERE

A first mission, NASA’s 2020 Mars Rover, is set to collect surface samples in pen-sized canisters as it explores the Red Planet. Up to 31 canisters will be filled and readied for a later pickup. This project reached a key milestone earlier this year (March, 2018) with NASA announcing that it had begun the assembly, test and launch operations phase of the rover’s development, and that it is on track for a July 2020 launch.