We live in exciting times of space exploration, as one of humanity's most ambitious ideas is becoming a reality. Since February 2021, the Perseverance Rover (NASA) has been exploring Mars, analyzing rocks and searching for signs of past or present life.
Unlike previous rovers, Perseverance is drilling into the martian surface to store small samples in hermetically sealed containers, preparing them for return to Earth.
Simultaneously, ESA is preparing for launch of ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover that will drill 2 meters down the surface of Mars and investigate habitability of martian subsurface.
About the Perseverance and Mars Sample Return project and objectives
The whole campaign of Mars Sample Return (MSR) is led jointly by NASA and ESA with the aim of bringing samples collected by NASA's Perseverance Rover back to Earth. It will include collecting the set of samples from Mars, the receival on Earth, curation and handling of the samples for scientific investigation. These samples will enable studies of Mars' geological and potential biological history in ways previously unimaginable.
However, before studies on the samples commence, extensive testing on analogues is needed to foresee and investigate any potential issues in engineering, science, curation, and planetary protection. Therefore, strategically selected natural samples from the field, best representing of various properties of the Jezero samples, are now being collected through dedicated field campaigns all across Earth.
About the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin and objectives
The ExoMars mission is scheduled to launch in 2028, and is aiming to land on Mars, specifically a region called Oxia Planum. This place was chosen because orbital results indicate the presence of clays. Clays are hydrous and necessitate water to form, meaning that Oxia Planum was once underwater. Thus, this mission is in line with ESA and NASA strategies of “following the water” in order to maximise chances of discovering eventual traces of past life. Oxia Planum also matches engineering criteria: it is flat, which limits risk to the lander, and also lower in altitude, which facilitates the deployement of the parachute and the deceleration when landing.
About the MM ASL collection and requests
MM ASL samples are stored and curated at the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo. The sample may be loaned for a range of purposes, including protocol optimization and validation, planetary protection studies, engineering tests, experiments, laboratory investigations, and to overall improve interpretation of the data collected during the martian missions. Our webpage features collection description and sample catalogues.
The sample allocation process is managed by a joint NASA-ESA Mars Missions Analogue Sample Allocation Panel (ASAP). Requests for the samples are now open on the ESA COSMOS webpage. More details about the loan process and collection can be accessed on this page.
⚠️Due to a series of technical problems with ESA, the request form is currently unavailable: samples may be requested via msr-asl [@] geo.uio.no or direct contact with one of the curators.
