NASA and ESA have not yet decided where on Mars the mission that will collect the samples obtained by Perseverance will land. An image obtained from the planet’s orbit shows a potential site.
Never have samples been brought back from Mars yet. This is the goal with the Mars 2020 mission of the Perseverance rover, which has been exploring the red planet since February 2021. Later, it is expected that a mission will come on site, in order to recover the precious Martian samples obtained by Perseverance. Many details of this project, led by NASA and ESA, have yet to be defined.
In particular, it will be necessary to decide where to place this mission on Mars. A new image obtained by a probe orbiting Mars, uploaded on March 23, 2022 and spotted by Universe Today, shows which site could be chosen. The snapshot was obtained by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), in orbit around the planet since 2006. Thanks to this probe, NASA can map the Martian surface. These are not, however, true colors.
The orbiter carries a camera, HiRISE (“High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment”). In addition to taking images of the red planet, this telescope installed on MRO sometimes has the opportunity to take images of rovers evolving on Mars. Curiosity, Opportunity and Perseverance have already been spotted by HiRISE, as has the (hover) lander InSight.
A possible future landing site on Mars, with varied textures
This view was obtained on January 18, when MRO was at an altitude of 278 kilometers. We see the ” possible future landing site for return of Martian samples “, legend the University of Arizona, which worked on the construction of the HiRISE instrument.
For the moment, the choice of this landing place is not confirmed. The university specifies that this location would be possible in a ” hopeful scenario “: the one in which Perseverance would see its mission extended twice. It is therefore assumed that the rover will be able to leave the Jezero crater (it landed in it, and does not leave it for the moment), starting to explore areas further west of the crater.
In this context, it is at this place photographed by MRO that the mission could recover the extracts collected by Perseverance. The snapshot shows a diversity of colors and textures in the region, which portends great interest in scientific exploration.
