Red-rock return

As scientists pore over the data gathered by NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander, and marvel at the confirmation that water exists beneath the Martian soil, international researchers are planning the next step in the exploration of the red planet: an audacious, multi-billion dollar interplanetary robot relay that will collect samples of Martian rock and return them to earth for analysis.

A recent report by iMARS, a group of international scientists and engineers studying the Mars sample return, revealed plans for a joint ESA/NASA mission that will build on the successes of both agencies’ Mars explorations, such as the forthcoming ExoMars and Mars science laboratory missions.

It will begin in 2018 with the launch of a rocket that will send a rover and an ascent vehicle to the surface of Mars. A year later, a second rocket carrying an orbiter will be launched. In 2020 the ascent vehicle, loaded with samples of rock collected by the rover, will leave Mars and deposit the sample container in Martian orbit. Once there, it will be picked up by the orbiter, which will head back to Earth, passing the sample on to a specially-developed vehicle that will protect it from the extreme temperatures of re-entry.