NASA to send 2 helicopters to Mars as part of sample return program

NASA announced Wednesday it will deploy two sample recovery helicopters to Mars to help return selected samples of rock and soil from the planet to Earth.

Under the plan, the space agency's Perseverance rover will do double duty and transport the cache to the rocket that will launch them off the red planet a decade from now, Fox News reports.

Perseverance has already gathered 11 samples so far and will work as the primary vehicle to transport Mars samples to NASA's Sample Retriever Lander, which will carry a rocket called the Mars Ascent Vehicle that will launch the samples from the surface to the Earth Return Orbiter for their journey to Earth.

The two helicopters, included with the Sample Retrieval Lander, are modeled after the Ingenuity helicopter, which has already completed 29 flights to Mars and has survived more than a year beyond its lifetime. The Earth Return Orbiter and Sample Retrieval Lander are to launch in fall 2027 and summer 2028, with samples expected back on Earth in 2033.

"There are some significant and advantageous changes to the plan, which can be directly attributed to Perseverance’s recent successes at Jezero (crater on Mars) and the amazing performance of our Mars helicopter," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA, said in a news release.

If Perseverance breaks down, the two helicopters would work in its place to load the samples into the rocket.

"We have confidence that we can count on Perseverance to bring the samples back, and we've added the helicopters as a backup means," said Jeff Gramling, director of NASA’s Mars sample return program.

Having just finished the systems requirements review phase, the program is expected to move into its preliminary phase in October. The phase is expected to last 12 months and will include technology development and the creation of engineering prototypes for the mission.

NASA said this new "refined concept" of the program was presented to delegates from the 22 participating states in Europe’s space exploration program, Terrae Novae, in May. The next meeting is set for September, when they will discuss discontinuing the development of the Sample Fetch Rover.