Mars Sample Return – An Overview of the Capture, Containment and Return System

Paper number

IAC-22,A3,3A,10,x73641

Author

Dr. Giuseppe Cataldo, United States, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Goddard Space Flight Center

Coauthor

Mr. Brian Childs, United States, Jet Propulsion Laboratory - California Institute of Technology

Coauthor

Mr. James Corliss, United States, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Coauthor

Mr. Brendan Feehan, United States, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Goddard Space Flight Center

Coauthor

Dr. Peter Gage, United States, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Ames Research Center

Coauthor

Mr. Justin Lin, United States, Jet Propulsion Laboratory - California Institute of Technology

Coauthor

Ms. Suparna Mukherjee, United States, George Washington University

Coauthor

Mr. Mark Neuman, United States, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Coauthor

Ms. Fernando Pellerano, United States, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Goddard Space Flight Center

Coauthor

Dr. Bruno Sarli, United States, NASA GSFC

Coauthor

Ms. Christine Szalai, United States, Jet Propulsion Laboratory - California Institute of Technology

Coauthor

Mr. Leo Teeney, United Kingdom, International Space University (ISU)

Coauthor

Mr. Jeremy Vander Kam, United States, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Ames Research Center

Coauthor

Dr. Todd White, United States, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Ames Research Center

Coauthor

Mrs. Calinda Yew, United States, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Goddard Space Flight Center

Coauthor

Dr. Carlie Zumwalt, United States, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Year

2022

Abstract

The Mars Sample Return campaign aims at bringing back soil and atmospheric samples from Mars to Earth to answer key questions about Mars’ biological evolution by means of four missions. The first one, Mars 2020, landed on the red planet on February 18, 2021 and has to date collected a number of samples through the Perseverance rover. The three subsequent missions aim to recover the sample tubes, launch them into Mars orbit and transport them back to Earth. These missions are currently in the planning and design stages of development and represent an international effort comprising NASA, the European Space Agency and many industry partners.
The work presented here provides an overview of the current design and concept of operations of the NASA-provided Capture, Containment, and Return System (CCRS), which is the payload of the ESA-provided Earth Return Orbiter (ERO). ERO would rendezvous with the orbiting samples and CCRS would capture them, contain them and robotically insert them into a capsule that would return the samples to Earth, the Earth Entry System (EES). About three days before arrival on Earth, CCRS releases the EES on an Earth entry trajectory, which then passively enters Earth’s atmosphere, descends on a highly predictable trajectory and safely lands notionally at the Utah Test and Training Range.
The decision to implement Mars Sample Return will not be finalized until NASA’s completion of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. This document is being made available for information purposes only.

Abstract document

IAC-22,A3,3A,10,x73641.brief.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-22,A3,3A,10,x73641.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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