Rocket Lab Awarded NASA Study Contract to Explore Bringing Rock Samples from Mars to Earth for the First Time

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Rocket Lab USA, Inc., a global leader in launch services and space systems, announced the Company has been selected by NASA to complete a study for retrieving rock samples from the Martian surface and bringing them to Earth for the first time. The mission would fulfill some of the highest priority solar system exploration goals for the science community – to revolutionize humanity’s understanding of Mars, potentially answer whether life ever existed on the Martian surface, and help prepare for the first human explorers to the Red Planet.

NASA’s Rapid Mission Design Studies for Mars Sample Return solicits industry proposals to carry out rapid studies of mission designs and mission elements capable of delivering samples collected by the Mars Perseverance rover from the surface of Mars to Earth. The results of this study will inform a potential update to NASA’s Mars Sample Return Program and may result in future procurements with industry. Rocket Lab’s study will explore a simplified, end-to-end mission concept that would be delivered for a fraction of the current projected program cost and completed several years earlier than the current expected sample return date in 2040.

“Retrieving samples from Mars is one of the most ambitious and scientifically important endeavors humanity has ever embarked upon. We’ve developed an innovative mission concept to make it happen affordably and on an accelerated schedule,” said Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Sir Peter Beck. “Rocket Lab has been methodically implementing a strategy for cost-effective planetary science in recent years, making us uniquely suited to deliver a low cost, rapid Mars Sample Return. We’ve demonstrated this strategy by delivering a NASA mission to the Moon, enabling rendezvous and proximity operations in orbit, successfully re-entering a capsule from orbit to Earth, delivering two spacecraft to NASA for a Mars mission, and much more. We look forward to bringing our proven capabilities together to deliver a compelling, innovative mission solution that puts Mars rocks in the hands of scientists sooner.”

Rocket Lab’s proposed mission architecture will be revealed once the study is complete in the coming months.