page_title: Human mission to Mars
section_title: Mars sample return missions
hierarchical_section_title: Human mission to Mars / Precursor missions / Mars sample return missions
caption_attribution_description: English: Sample return concept - Mission Summary http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/details.php?id=5922 Acronym:MSR Type:Lander/Rover Status:Proposed Launch Date:To be determined Target:Mars Destination:Mars Mars Sample Return is a proposed mission to return samples from the surface of Mars to Earth. The mission would use robotic systems and a Mars ascent rocket to collect and send samples of Martian rocks, soils and atmosphere to Earth for detailed chemical and physical analysis.Mission Summary Mars Sample Return is a proposed mission to return samples from the surface of Mars to Earth. The mission would use robotic systems and a Mars ascent rocket to collect and send samples of Martian rocks, soils and atmosphere to Earth for detailed chemical and physical analysis.
context_page_description: A human mission to Mars has been the subject of science fiction, aerospace engineering and scientific proposals since the 20th century. Plans include landing on Mars for exploration at a minimum, with the possibility of sending settlers and terraforming the planet or exploring its moons Phobos and Deimos also considered.
  The exploration of Mars has been a goal of national space programs for decades. Conceptual work for missions that would involve human explorers has been ongoing since the 1950s, with planned missions typically being stated as taking place anywhere between 10 and 30 years from the time they are drafted. The list of crewed Mars mission plans shows the various mission proposals that have been put forth by multiple organizations and space agencies in this field of space exploration. Plans have varied from scientific expeditions, in which a small group would visit Mars for a period of a few weeks or year, to the permanent colonization of Mars.
  In the 2010s, numerous US, European, and Asian agencies were developing proposals for human missions to Mars. In fiction, Mars is a frequent target of exploration and settlement in books, graphic novels, and films.
context_section_description: An uncrewed Mars sample return mission (MSR) has sometimes been considered as a precursor to crewed missions to Mars' surface. In 2008, the ESA called a sample return "essential" and said it could bridge the gap between robotic and human missions to Mars. An example of a Mars sample return mission is Sample Collection for Investigation of Mars (SCIM). Mars sample return was the highest priority Flagship Mission proposed for NASA by the Planetary Decadal Survey 2013–2022: The Future of Planetary Science. However, such missions have been hampered by complexity and expense, with one ESA proposal involving no less than five different uncrewed spacecraft.
  Sample return plans raise the concern, however remote, that an infectious agent could be brought to Earth. Regardless, a basic set of guidelines for extraterrestrial sample return have been laid out depending on the source of sample (e.g. asteroid, Moon, Mars surface, etc.)
  At the dawn of the 21st century, NASA crafted four potential pathways to Mars human missions. Of those four, three included a Mars sample return as a prerequisite to human landing; however one did not.
  Currently, the rover Perseverance is equipped with a device that will allow it to pick up and seal samples of rock from Mars, to be returned at a later date by another mission. Perseverance is part of the Mars 2020 mission and is set to launch on top of an Atlas V rocket on 30 July 2020.
caption: Sample return mission concept
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