SPACE EXPLORATION
Red-rock return
A joint ESA/NASA mission to return rock samples from Mars will push both robotic
and human collaboration skills to the limit. Jon Excell reports
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
26
sample on to a specially-developed
vehicle that will protect it from the
extreme temperatures of re-entry.
Leicester University’s Dr John
Bridges, who helped draw up the
iMARS report, said the participants’
roles are likely to reflect current areas
of expertise, with the US developing the
systems for entry, descent and landing,
and Europe the Rover and the orbiter.
The UK, with its strong heritage in
robotic space exploration, is set to play
a starring role. A top candidate for the
development of the rover is Stevenage’s
EADS Astrium, prime subcontractor
for the robotic rover that will be at the
heart of ESA’s ExoMars mission,
scheduled for launch in 2013.
The prototype, named Bridget, has
been designed to function as a mobile
laboratory as it travels many kilome-
tres over the surface of Mars.
Dr Ralph Cordey, development
‘It’s a high-priority mission — it chimes exactly
with what NASA, ESA and lots of UK scientists
and engineers want to do’ John Bridges, iMARS
manager for space science and
exploration at EADS, believes the
plucky rover will be able to perform
many of the functions required by a
Mars sample return mission, ranging
far and wide to hunt for samples and
even using its robotic manipulators to
transfer samples into containers within
the ascent vehicle.
In a separate project, Astrium has
been investigating the development of
an autonomous rendezvous system that
would enable the orbiter to collect the
sample container once it has been
deposited in orbit. ‘The need is to locate
a little canister, weighing 5kg and
measuring 10–15cm across, that will
have been carried up from the surface
of Mars by the ascent vehicle,’ said
Cordey. ‘Your mother spacecraft will
have to find it somewhere in the dark
starry sky using optical sensors and
microwave techniques, home in on it
the EnGIneeR 18–31 AUGUST 2008
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