[meteorite-list] EADS Space Defines European Mars Sample Return Mission

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:10 2004
Message-ID: <200404021649.IAA00099_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.ras.org.uk/html/press/eads0401.html

EADS Astrium Press Release:
Space Defines Mars Sample Return Mission

Date: 1st April 2004

CONTACT DETAILS ARE LISTED AT THE END OF THIS RELEASE.

EADS Space Defines Mars Sample Return Mission

Following award of the EUR600k study contract by ESA, EADS Space has made
significant progress in completing the first definition of a European Mars
Sample Return (MSR) mission. While EADS Astrium is defining the overall
mission and the spacecraft, EADS Space Transportation is responsible for the
re-entry systems and a 'Mars Ascent Vehicle' - a small rocket to carry the
precious sample up through the Martian atmosphere.

The team at EADS Astrium, Stevenage is currently preparing for the Mid Term
Review where two very different designs will have to be reduced to one.

In the first concept the launch vehicle lifts the sample from the surface of
Mars and docks with the Earth Return Vehicle. In the second concept the
launch vehicle releases the sample container into a low Mars orbit and the
Earth Return Vehicle uses a capture mechanism to perform the rendezvous. The
selection of the rendezvous concept has a significant impact on the overall
mass, cost and complexity of the mission.

Marie-Claire Perkinson, Senior Systems Engineer at EADS Astrium, Stevenage,
leading the study said. "Our industrial team, which includes EADS Space in
France; Galileo Avionica in Italy, Sener in Spain and Utopia Consultancies
in Germany has done a great job so far in proposing the two exciting
concepts. We now have to select the best solution and then, once ESA has
raised the appropriate support and funds for the implementation of the
mission, launch could be as early as 2011."

BACKGROUND

European astronauts may land on Mars one day, but getting them there and
safely returning them to Earth will involve many steps and numerous
technical challenges in propulsion, structures, computers and software. It
will require sophisticated spacecraft to escape from Earth's orbit; fly to
Mars, survive atmospheric entry and landing; operate on the surface;
take-off; return to Earth and then finally get the crew back on terra firma.
Long before this can be accomplished some key technologies must be
demonstrated. The best way to do this is to fly a robotic mission with a
scaled-down version of the eventual manned mission.

This is exactly the goal of Mars Sample Return, the second flagship mission
of the European Space Agency's Aurora planetary exploration initiative and
one of the most eagerly awaited future space missions for the planetary
scientists.

Because Martian winds have transported dust across the planet's surface over
millions of years, the MSR sample could include particles from many
different sources, representing a wide variety of rock types and ages, like
grains of sand on a beach. Each granule could offer completely different
insights into the rich geologic past of the Red Planet. Scientists could now
"look at the sample as if each grain were a rock," said Professor Colin
Pillinger of the Open University. This would build on the decades of
research already carried out on lunar rock samples.

EADS Space has used its unique heritage in building launch vehicles,
planetary spacecraft and re-entry systems, combined with a deep
understanding of the science goals to win the ESA mission study. ESA's
Aurora Project Manager Bruno Gardini said "The Mars Sample Return mission is
one of the most challenging missions ever considered by ESA. Not only does
it include many new technologies and four or five different spacecraft, but
it is also a mission of tremendous scientific importance and the first
robotic mission with a similar profile to a possible human expedition to
Mars."

NOTES

Marie-Claire Perkinson will be speaking about ESA's proposed Mars Sample
Return mission on Friday 2 April during the Royal Astronomical Society's
National Astronomy Meeting at the Open University in Milton Keynes.

CONTACT:

For more information, please contact:

     Alistair Scott
     EADS SPACE (UK)
     Tel: +44 (0)1438-77-3698
     Mob. +44 (0)7887-826264

RAS National Astronomy Meeting press room (2 April only)
+44 (0)1908-659726 +44 (0)1908-659729 +44 (0)1908-659730
Received on Fri 02 Apr 2004 11:49:38 AM PST