Next phase reached in definition of Mars Sample Return mission(Forwarded)

ESA News
http://www.esa.int

7 April 2006

Next phase reached in definition of Mars Sample Return mission

ESA has taken a further step in preparing for participation in Mars Sample
Return (MSR), the landmark mission to return samples from the Red Planet,
with the announcement of the next phase of industrial activity.

The Phase A2 activity will address many critical issues and identify key
areas in which Europe can participate in this flagship of the Aurora
Programme.

The search for evidence of life outside the Earth is one of the
fundamental goals of space exploration, and has been one of the driving
forces behind the efforts to explore the planet Mars. This investigation,
key to unlocking the 'big' question regarding life in the universe, is
increasing in pace and is already beginning to provide answers. This is
also one of the leading scientific threads of ESA's Aurora Space
Exploration Programme that was approved at the ESA Council meeting at
Ministerial level held in Berlin last December.

Currently four orbiting explorers are scanning the surface of Mars in ever
more detail, including Europe's own Mars Express, while on the Red Planet
itself two NASA rovers are due to be joined in 2013 by ESA's ExoMars
rover. The ExoMars mission will take Mars exploration and the search for
life to a new level, with an advanced set of life detection instruments as
well as the capability to drill into the Martian surface to search for
signs of life, a first for Mars. These missions, while providing a wealth
of data, are however somewhat limited in that they must take the
laboratory to Mars, facing restrictions on power, mass and having to carry
out scientific operations in a very harsh environment. The obvious
question then arises; why not bring Mars to the laboratory? Hence, the
Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission.

The MSR mission has been recognised by European and International
scientists as one of the next major milestones in the exploration of the
Red Planet, and would represent a quantum leap in the study of possible
life there with scientists able to use the full range of Earth based
facilities and laboratories. This mission also represents a critical step
on the path to the ultimate goal of performing a human mission to Mars,
since it involves the full sequence of landing, operating, launching from
Mars and returning back to Earth. The technology developments required to
enable a MSR mission are also to some extent common to future lunar
exploration missions.

ESA recognises the importance of this mission in the frame of the European
Aurora Programme, and is now embarking on a twelve month Mars Sample
Return Systems Study. This work, which builds on a first study step
initiated in 2003, will prepare the way for Europe to play a key role in
an international MSR mission. Past ESA work has already defined as a
starting point an MSR mission launched in two parts. The first consists of
a Mars orbiter and an Earth return capsule, while the second carries the
surface lander and the Mars ascent vehicle which will launch the sample
into Mars orbit ready for return to Earth. The new 'MSR Phase A2 Systems
Study', which will be undertaken by European industry in close
coordination with ESA, will be performed in two main steps.

The first step will address the remaining options still to be assessed and
choices to be made with respect to the overall mission design. This
includes the option of having the orbiter 'capture' the sample container
in Mars orbit, or having the ascent vehicle perform a docking manoeuvre.
This trade-off, as with much of the work to be performed in this first
step, will draw upon the technology development and experience gained
during the initial phases of the Aurora Programme.

The refinement of the mission architecture will also include interaction
with international partners, in order to prepare for future cooperation on
the MSR mission. Additional work will also be performed to assess the
impact of features such as surface mobility on the MSR mission, i.e. what
is the cost of being able to move around and select specific samples.
Having refined the mission design, development paths will be identified
for each of the critical capabilities involved in the mission.

The second step of the Phase A2 work will identify within the capability
development paths, steps which might be accomplished through precursor
missions. Such missions would include the demonstration of critical
technologies associated with, for example, soft-precision landing. As an
outcome of this, a shortlist of candidate precursor mission concepts will
be made.

Both of these steps will be performed in close interaction with the
scientific community, in particular through science workshops both
covering the requirements and objectives of the MSR mission itself, but
also the possible scientific elements of potential precursor missions. The
details of these science workshops will be made available in the near
future.

Through the MSR Phase A2 System Study, Europe not only aims to play a key
role in this landmark mission, but is also pro-actively addressing the
necessary steps to take in order to achieve its ambitious goals. These
steps have already been initiated in the frame of ongoing technology
development within the Aurora Programme, and may be continued through the
possibility of intermediate precursor missions to both demonstrate the
technologies associated with Mars Sample Return, while also advancing our
scientific understanding of the Moon and Mars.

Further steps in the definition of a Mars Sample Return mission, building
upon the outcomes of the Phase A2 work, will be implemented in the frame
of the Exploration Core Programme the element within the Aurora Programme
which covers activities for the preparation of the future exploration of
the Moon and Mars, both robotically and ultimately with humans.

For further information:

Piero Messina
Aurora Space Exploration Programme
Tel.: +33 6 87715126

Related articles

* European ministers approve the Aurora Exploration Programme and give
green light for the ExoMars mission
http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEM6NXVLWFE_exploration_0.html

Related links

* Aurora Exploration Programme
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Aurora/index.html
* Mars Sample Return
http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEM1PM808BE_exploration_0.html

[NOTE: Images supporting this release are available at
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