The Mars Ascent Vehicle team completed crucial wind tunnel tests at NASA's facility, paving the way for the first rocket launch from Mars. This joint effort between NASA and ESA aims to return Martian samples to Earth by the early 2030s, offering insights into Mars's ancient history and potential mi
This illustration shows NASA’s Mars Ascent Vehicle in powered flight. The MAV will carry tubes containing Martian rock and soil samples into orbit around Mars, where ESA’s Earth Return Orbiter spacecraft will enclose them in a highly secure containment capsule and deliver them to Earth. Credit: NASA’s facility, paving the way for the first rocket launch from Mars.
The same facility that provided valuable testing for NASA missions to low-Earth orbit and the Moon is now helping the agency prepare to launch the first rocket from Mars. The MAV is an important part of the joint plan between NASA and ESA to bring scientifically selected Martian samples to Earth in the early 2030s.
A scale model of the Mars Ascent Vehicle is tested for in the trisonic wind tunnel at Marshall. The tunnel’s test sections are only 14 inches in height and width but can achieve wind speeds of up to Mach 5. Credit: NASA The team will use data from the July testing campaign and other analyses to form a better estimate of the environments MAV would face as it becomes the first vehicle to launch from the surface of another planet.
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