Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Credit: NASA

Work is progressing on a vital part of NASA’s Mars Return Sample plans.

The Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) is a small, lightweight, two-stage solid propellant rocket with a big assignment: hurl rock, sediment, and atmospheric samples from the surface of the Red Planet.

Developer of the MAV is Lockheed Martin Space of Littleton, Colorado, with this “cache and carry” transport device crucial to enable the first rocket launch from another planet.

The MAV would be packaged within NASA’s Sample Retrieval Lander, another central part of the campaign, with the all-in-one spacecraft (lander and MAV) touching down near or in Jezero Crater. That’s the spot where the Perseverance rover is already busily gathering Mars specimens, some of which are destined to be shot back to Earth in the early 2030’s.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

For more details, take a look at my new Space.com story – “How NASA will launch Mars samples off the Red Planet – Meet the 10-foot-tall (3 meters) Mars Ascent Vehicle” at:

https://www.space.com/mars-sample-return-mav-rocket