Almost half of the samples collected by NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover have been collected. On the surface of Mars, the rover is building a sampledepot. There are 11 landing circles for each sample tube and one for the landers in the depot.

The samples will be retrieved by helicopter.

planetary scientists will be interested in studying samples from Mars. Having Martian samples in full-featured Earth labs will allow comprehensive study that simply isn't possible with robotics, even with Perseverance's suite of advanced instruments

There is still time for the Perseverance rover to return samples to Earth in 2033, but it is collecting samples and starting to store them in a depot. Perseverance has collected almost half of the samples. Rock core samples are the majority, but there are also regolith and atmospheric samples.

The large majority of Perseverance's 18 samples so far are rock core samples. Image Credit: NASA/JPL.
The large majority of Perseverance’s 18 samples so far are rock core samples. Image Credit: NASA/JPL.

The process of placing the samples is detailed. There are tubes on the ground. They have to be positioned so that the helicopter can get to them at the same time. The entire depot area has to have at least 11 different landing spots.

Complicated operations like this need to be planned out precisely, and without adequate maneuvering room, the whole endeavor can become much more complicated than it needs to be.

When the site is on another planet, it is even more important.

Richard Cook is the Mars Sample Return program manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. We need 10 more in the vicinity for our Sample Recovery Helicopters to perform takeoffs and landings as well as driving.

The recovery helicopter is designed to interact with only one tube at a time, so dropping them in a big pile wouldn't work.

This map shows where NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover will be dropping 10 samples that a future mission could pick up. The orange circles represent areas where a Sample Recovery Helicopter could safely operate to acquire the sample tubes. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This map shows where NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover will be dropping 10 samples that a future mission could pick up. The orange circles represent areas where a Sample Recovery Helicopter could safely operate to acquire the sample tubes. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

duplicate samples are collected from each location One sample will be put in a surface depot and the other in Perseverance. Over time, the Mars Sample Return mission architecture has been refined by NASA and the European Space Agency. The plan used to include a fetch rover and sample return glider. The plan has changed due to the success of the Ingenuity helicopter.

This artist's illustration shows what a Sample Return Helicopter might look like. The helicopters would collect cached sample tubes with their robotic arms, one at a time, and return them to the Sample Return Lander. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
This artist’s illustration shows what a Sample Return Helicopter might look like. The helicopters would collect cached sample tubes with their robotic arms, one at a time, and return them to the Sample Return Lander. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The Sample Return mission will include a sample return landers, but instead of a fetch rover, two helicopter will collect the samples. The depot samples and the helicopter are just a back up plan. The samples will be sent to the Sample Return Lander by NASA and the European Space Agency. They will be sent back to Earth by the Earth Return Orbiter.

This is what the Mars Sample Return mission looked like in 2019. Updated plans eliminate the Fetch Rover (yellow ellipse) and will instead use Sample Retrieval Helicopters to bring the samples to the Sample Return Lander. Once at the Lander, the samples will be launched into orbit by rocket, then retrieved by an orbiter and sent to Earth. Credit: ESA

Selecting a depot and positioning samples is a milestone on the way to that rewarding day in 2033. When the full set of samples is collected, they will mirror the samples inside Perseverance.

The samples for this depot and the duplicate samples held aboard Perseverance are representative of the area explored during the prime mission. There are at least two and possibly four different styles of aqueous alteration recorded in the rocks we have.

??????????Sample Depot: 40% complete!

Another successful tube drop adds to my growing collection here at the “Three Forks” location. Four of the 10 tubes I’m leaving here as a backup set are down. More on my samples: https://t.co/SuSfqeBI37 pic.twitter.com/UNjgtqSFh2

Sample Return LanderMars Sample ReturnsamplesReturn
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