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PMilly77 t1_j6mgh5r wrote

When will these samples be brought back to Earth?

Do they have a spacecraft already on Mars to send them back or will they have to send something new to pick them up?

I watched The Martian at the weekend so sorry for the silly questions haha

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ChefExellence t1_j6miqpx wrote

The recovery craft haven't even been constructed yet. It will consist of an orbiting return craft, a lander with a rocket and two fetch helicopters similar to Ingenuity

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pippinator1984 t1_j6mlvqg wrote

When will this be started? How much life is left in this one? Thanks.

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wgp3 t1_j6n80v9 wrote

Work has already started on their designs but im not sure how far along that work is. The goal as of now is having the samples back by like 2033 or so. Perseverance, the current rover, has an undetermined amount of life left. Some rovers have made it 15 years. Other rovers made it about 5. But Curiosity is still going (11 years now I believe) and Perseverance is basically the same design but upgraded so hopefully should get another 10 years out of her easily.

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