Skip to main content

Watch NASA’s cinematic animation of upcoming Mars Sample Return mission

NASA has released a cinematic animation showing some of the key moments from the upcoming Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission.

Mars Sample Return: Bringing Mars Rock Samples Back to Earth

The complex uncrewed mission involves multiple spacecraft and is set to launch in 2033.

Recommended Videos

The MSR mission is linked to the current Perseverance rover mission, which is now exploring the martian surface and gathering samples for the MSR mission to pick up and transport to Earth.

Perseverance made a spectacular landing on Mars in February 2021 and is NASA’s most advanced rover to date. The samples that it gathers will be returned to Earth in the MSR mission and then analyzed in advanced laboratories.

Scientists believe that close examination of the material will help them to determine if microbial life ever existed on the distant planet. If it did, then it could offer clues as to how life developed on our own planet.

“NASA and the European Space Agency are developing plans for one of the most ambitious campaigns ever attempted in space: bringing the first samples of Mars material safely back to Earth for detailed study,” NASA said in comments accompanying its animation.

“Bringing samples of Mars to Earth for future study would happen in several steps with multiple spacecraft, and in some ways, in a synchronized manner. This short animation features key moments of the Mars Sample Return campaign: from landing on Mars and securing the sample tubes to launching them off the surface, and ferrying them back to Earth.”

The video (below) shows engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which oversees Mars missions, working on different aspects of the MSR mission, including developing a system that throws the sample-carrying rocket in the air before its engines ignite to send it toward the waiting satellite orbiting Mars.

Testing Mars Sample Return

As the JPL team continues with its preparatory work on Earth, NASA’s Perseverance rover will also continue with its work, collecting more samples from different places on the red planet ahead of the launch of the ambitious MSR mission.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Watch NASA’s SLS rocket take one small step toward the Artemis II moon mission
The core stage of NASA's SLS rocket.

Artemis II Core Stage Moves to High Bay 2

Although it won’t be blasting off until mid-2026 at the earliest, preparations are already well underway for the launch of NASA’s highly anticipated Artemis II mission.

Read more
Relive NASA’s debut launch of its mighty SLS rocket on second anniversary
NASA's SLS rocket launching at the start of the Artemis I mission.

NASA’s Artemis I Moon Mission: Launch to Splashdown Highlights

Two years ago, on November 16, NASA performed the maiden launch of its Space Launch System (SLS) mega moon rocket that carried an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to orbit in a mission and marked the official start of the U.S. space agency’s ambitious Artemis program.

Read more
Watch NASA’s Mars video of a ‘googly eye’ during solar eclipse
The Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie on Sept. 10, 2021 — sol 198 of the mission – in Jezero Crater after coring into a rock called ‘Rochette.’ Rock core samples from the floor of the crater will be brought back to Earth and analyzed to characterize the planet’s geology and past climate.

As it continues its painstaking search for microbial life on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover has also been reporting otherworldly happenings occurring during its adventures.

Just recently, for example, one of its many onboard cameras captured some remarkable footage of a solar eclipse as Phobos -- one of Mars’ two moons -- passed between the red planet and the sun.

Read more