NASA has commissioned Lockheed Martin to develop the MAV vehicle, which will use a rocket to deliver rock samples collected by the Perseverance rover into orbit around Mars.
The launch of the MAV is expected to take place in 2028, and the arrival of samples to Earth will occur in the 2030s.
The goal of the MSR (Mars Sample Return Mission), which NASA and the ESA are working on, is to carry out the first ever delivery of Martian rock samples to Earth.
Its first stage was the arrival of the Perseverance rover to Mars, which is collecting samples from the Lake crater in sealed test tubes.
Then a descent module will arrive on the Red Planet, which will deliver the MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle), developed by NASA, and the European rover, which will collect the prepared test tubes with soil and load them into a small rocket delivered by the MAV.
After launch, the rocket will launch a sample container into near-Martian orbit, where it will be picked up by the Earth Return Orbiter, created by ESA. ERO, in turn, will deliver the container to Earth.
On February 7, NASA announced that it had selected Lockheed Martin as the developer of the MAV and awarded them a $194 million contract.
No further technical details about the vehicle's design have been released, and a review of the specifications for the MSR is expected in April.
Earlier, in March 2021, NASA awarded Northrop Grumman a contract to supply solid-fuel engines of the first and second stages for the MAV.
MAV and ERO are currently scheduled to launch in 2028, with samples expected to arrive in the early to mid-2030s.
Source:
Spacenews: https://spacenews.com/lockheed-martin-wins-contract-to-build-rocket-for-mars-sample-return/
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