Recently NASA announced some changes to upcoming missions for Mars. Now the US space agency has said it is to launch two more mini helicopters to the red planet to help with a project to collect Martian soil samples and bring them back to Earth by 2033.

The new equipment from NASA, in partnership with ESA, is based on a helicopter design. ingenuity, which has already made 29 flights to the neighboring planet since its arrival last year. In fact, recently, on its 25th flight, the craft traveled the equivalent of 704 meters with a top speed approaching 20 km/h.

Mission Changes

Prior to this, the agency planned to deliver to Mars a robot built by the European space agency ESA, which would carry scientific materials collected by the spacecraft. perseverancea robot launched with Ingenuity and whose main task is to detect traces of life on the planet.

Now the mission is to get Perseverance to go to the lander where the NASA rocket will be parked. So, as plan B, in case the movement of the device is inaccurate, the new helicopters will load the robot samples.

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NASA also said the new helicopters will provide an additional opportunity to retrieve samples stored on the surface of Mars. It is assumed that the construction and commissioning of equipment will be carried out by the end of this decade. So, if all goes well, the mission should collect 30 samples by 2031, arriving on Earth in two years.

According to G1, Mars sample return (The Mars Sample Return Program, in translation) is in the final stages of project development. NASA director Jeff Gramling also said the mini-helicopters would be designed to carry sample tubes from the robot making multiple flights around the planet.

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Via: G1

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