NASA and ESA Confirm Joint Mars Sample Return Mission for 2028

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have officially confirmed a joint Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission targeted for launch in 2028, which aims to retrieve the 43 sample tubes cached by the Perseverance rover on the Martian surface.

The mission represents the most complex interplanetary endeavor ever attempted, requiring multiple spacecraft launches, a Mars ascent vehicle, and an Earth entry capsule.

Mission architecture:

The operation will involve a NASA-built Earth Return Orbiter and an ESA Sample Retrieval Lander. The lander will deploy a small fetch rover to collect Perseverance's sample caches and load them into the Mars Ascent Vehicle — a first-of-its-kind rocket that will launch from the Martian surface and rendezvous with the orbiter.

The samples are expected to reach Earth by 2033 and will be analyzed in specially constructed containment facilities to search for signs of ancient microbial life.

NASA Administrator Pam Melroy called the mission "the most scientifically consequential space mission in human history," noting that the samples could definitively answer the question of whether life ever existed on Mars.

The mission budget is estimated at $11 billion, shared between the two agencies.