NASA has more details about its plans for bringing a part of Mars back to Earth.
In an Instagram post, the US space agency explained how the first Martian sample would arrive on Earth in less than a decade.
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Nasa Submitted: “We’re bringing back a little bit of Mars to Earth.
“Our Perseverance rover, currently rolling through Jezero Crater and picking up samples of the Red Planet as it goes.
“Later this decade, we plan to collect the samples from Perseverance. (We’re also sending along two Ingenuity-class helicopters for potential backup if needed.)”
The space agency then explained how the samples will be collected by its Mars Ascent Vehicle.
The vehicle will then transport the valuable cargo to the European Space Agencies’ Earth Return Orbiter.
Nasa hopes that the samples will return to Earth in 2033.
This sounds like a well-thought plan, but it comes with risks.
One of these risks is contamination of Earth with something unknown from Mars’ sample.
Scientists who find evidence of ancient life or life on Mars must ensure that the Earth is safe after returning a sample.
Dr. Moogega, a Nasa scientist, explained previously to Talks at Google that he didn’t want to bring back anything that could be harmful to the human race.
“So we have to do the best job possible to make sure it’s done right.”
Cooper said that Earth cannot be saved from the threat of alien life.
“If we learn more, we can modify that approach.”
“It’s similar with the Covid approach. You learn something new and you have to adjust it.”
She said, “You just have to take the punches as scientists. That’s how it is for Martian life.”
“We only know life as we know it. So, we’ll use the worst thing we can think of on our planet as the model for Martian life.”
But, it is possible that Mars samples could be purely rock and will not contain unknown microbes.
Nasa has had over ten years to develop a plan for when samples arrive.