#arianespace

Launch of an X-38-based crew vehicle onboard Arianespace's Ariane 5. Several X-38 variants beyond the Crew Return Vehicle were proposed, for crew/cargo launch and freeflying scientific missions.

Until now, the purpose of the mission was to collect the Martian soil samples with the Perseverance rover and deposit them at a designated point, waiting for a rover lander with the task of collecting the tubes containing the samples and bring them to the lander, where waiting for them there would be another lander with a solid-fuel mini rocket with a capsule where they could be deposited. The mini rocket has the task of bringing the capsule into Martian orbit, which will be intercepted and retrieved by an ESA orbiter, which, in turn, will bring the capsule with the samples close to Earth.

Following a reanalysis of Perseverance's operational expectation, the plan has undergone major changes, simplifying the mission and potentially saving budget.

The rocket and its lander, respectively Sample Retrieval Lander and Mars Ascent Vehicle, remain in the design; two drones will be added to them, based on Ingenuity's design, with tube retrieval capability, to have a secondary retrieval system.

Once in Mars orbit, the capsule will be intercepted by NASA's Capture, Containment, and Return System, aboard the Earth Return Orbiter spacecraft, provided by ESA.

The orbiter is scheduled to launch in the fall of 2027 aboard the new Ariane 6, the lander in the summer of 2028. With this timeline, the samples should arrive on Earth in 2033.

An 'incident' with the @NASAWebb delays launch. #JWST #Ariane5

The James Webb Space Telescope arrives in the clean room in French Guiana in preparation for launch after traveling some 5,800 miles by sea from California. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn The James Webb Space Telescope has incurred another delay and is now set to launch from French Guiana no earlier than Dec. 22, 2021. (more…)