The Mars Ascent Vehicle will bring back samples from the Red Planet that are currently being collected by the Perseverance rover.
“This test demonstrates our nation has the capacity to develop a launch vehicle that can successfully be lightweight enough to get to Mars and robust enough to put a set of samples into orbit to bring back to Earth,” Benjamin Davis, MAV propulsion manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, said in a statement. “The hardware is telling us that our technology is ready to proceed with development.
Mars Sample Return is one of the most complex missions to be carried out by NASA. It involves a fleet of spacecraft, including an orbiter, lander, two helicopters, and the first rocket to launch from the surface of another planet.MAV is a two-stage rocket with two solid rocket motors – SRM1 and SRM2.
In order to test MAV, the team prepared development motors that will help them adjust their designs before they start building the real thing. The SRM2 development motor was tested on March 29 at the Northrop Grumman facility while SRM1 was tested on April 7 at Edwards Air Force Base in California.SRM1 was placed in a vacuum chamber with temperatures of -4 degrees Fahrenheit to simulate conditions on Mars.
The Mars samples are expected to arrive to Earth in the early 2030s, although the mission is under scrutiny after going over budget and facing possible delays. A Senate subcommittee recently
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