NASA has awarded a $194 million contract to Lockheed Martin Space to design and build a Mars Ascent Vehicle to bring samples back to Earth, one of three contracts the company secured to support the future mission.
The other two involve a lander ship to get the Mars Ascent Vehicle to the red planet’s surface, and for an “Earth Entry System” that will bring the rock, sediment and atmospheric samples safely back through space, the company said Tuesday in a news release.
Much of the work for the Mars Ascent Vehicle will be done at Lockheed Martin’s Waterton campus in southwest metro Denver. The campus in Waterton Canyon is home base for about 8,000 of the company’s 11,000 Colorado employees.
“We’re thrilled to partner with NASA on these important elements of NASA’s ambitious Mars Sample Return campaign,” Lisa Callahan, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and general manager of the company’s Commercial Civil Space business, said in a release.
“It’s a great responsibility to be entrusted to solve the technical challenges of this groundbreaking mission. We’re looking forward to helping NASA blaze new trails in scientific discovery.”
It will be the first time samples are returned to Earth from Mars, and the first Earth rocket to be fired off another planet.
“This groundbreaking endeavor is destined to inspire the world when the first robotic round-trip mission retrieves a sample from another planet — a significant step that will ultimately help send the first astronauts to Mars,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a release.
“America’s investment in our Mars Sample Return program will fulfill a top priority planetary science goal and demonstrate our commitment to global partnerships, ensuring NASA remains a leader in exploration and discovery.”
Lockheed Martin designed and built the aeroshell, which protected the NASA Mars Perseverance rover during entry, descent and landing a year ago this week. It has been collecting samples since.
The new missions will connect the new Mars Ascent Vehicle with Perseverance to get the samples. Then it will blast those samples off from Mars, where it will connect with a European Space Agency orbiter “that has the Lockheed Martin-built sample return capsule inside,” according to the release.
The Mars Ascent Vehicle Integrated System contract starts Feb. 25 and lasts for six years, according to NASA.
“NASA’s Mars Sample Return Campaign promises to revolutionize our understanding of Mars by bringing scientifically selected samples for study using the most sophisticated instruments around the world,” according to NASA.
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