By 
May 1st, 2022
The Red Planet as seen by Europe’s Mars Express.
Credit: ESA/D. O’Donnell – CC BY-SA IGO
Those bits and pieces of Mars expected to be brought back to Earth, perhaps in the early 2030s, will land with a thud in Utah desert.
Those return samples are now being collected by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover.
NASA Perseverance rover.
Credit: NASA/JPL
To test the Mars Sample Return (MSR) Earth Entry System (EES), engineers have carried out a series of drop tests at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR).
A Manufacturing Demonstration Unit of one potential design for the EES aeroshell was outfitted with sensors and dropped from a helicopter.
Stable during descent
Mars Sample Return capsule testing.
Credit: NASA/Langley/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The drop test series was a follow up to tests conducted last year at UTTR with a .75-meter, less detailed, EES test article. In comparison, the MDU is a full-scale vehicle, 1.25 meters across, with a structure fabricated of materials similar to those that would be used for the EES in the actual Mars sample mission.
During the tests, the MDU was dropped from an altitude of 1,200 feet to provide time to reach the intended landing speed.
“The MDU was very stable during descent – it didn’t wobble around a lot, and it landed successfully, in the sense that there was no structural damage and it survived impact as expected,” said Jim Corliss, MSR EES chief engineer, in a NASA press statement.
Utah testing of Mars Sample Return capsule.
Credit: NASA/Langley/Inside Outer Space screengrab
It’s important for the aeroshell to land in a particular orientation, Corliss added, and the drop test indicated the full-scale MDU was stable during final descent, landing right on its nose as engineers intended.
This test, along with another series of tests planned for later this year, will help researchers verify predictions of the EES landing performance and complete the characterization of the potential landing area at UTTR.
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