NASA Grants $10 Million to Firms for Mars Sample Return Mission

NASA Grants $10 Million to Firms for Mars Sample Return Mission

NASA has awarded $10 million in grants to seven companies to advance technologies for the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. MSR aims to collect samples from Mars and return them to Earth for detailed study.

Keywords: Mars Sample Return, NASA, Mars Exploration, Sample Collection, Technology Development

The grants will support research in areas such as sample acquisition, handling, and storage; rover mobility and navigation; and thermal protection for the sample container. The selected firms include:

Honeybee Robotics ($2 million)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory ($2 million)
Lockheed Martin Space ($2 million)
Northrop Grumman Space Systems ($2 million)
Space Systems/Loral ($1 million)
Teledyne Technologies ($0.5 million)
Honeywell Aerospace ($0.5 million)

“These grants will accelerate the development of critical technologies for the Mars Sample Return mission,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “Bringing these samples back to Earth will provide groundbreaking insights into the evolution of Mars and the potential for life beyond Earth.”

The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, currently exploring the Jezero Crater on Mars, is caching samples that will be collected by a future sample return mission. TheMSR mission is planned to launch in the late 2020s and will involve multiple spacecraft and rovers to retrieve and return the samples to Earth.

“The technologies developed under these grants will pave the way for a safe and successful Mars Sample Return mission,” said Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division. “These samples will transform our understanding of Mars and serve as a treasure trove of information for generations of scientists.”