Skip to main content

Questions tagged [sample-return]

Mission to some extraterrestrial object which results in return of materials to Earth for further examination.

7 votes
0 answers
113 views

Does Chang'e 6 try to avoid sampling contaminated soil?

Watching this amazing video of Chang'e 6 taking samples from the Apollo Crater on the far side of the Moon, I was struck by the proximity of the sample channels to the lander. It's understandable ...
Dave Gremlin's user avatar
  • 2,971
4 votes
1 answer
122 views

Would a ice core samples taken on the Moon provide us with information about the past that we cannot easily obtain in other ways?

This article on NASA's website describes 10 things we’ve learned about Earth by studying the Moon, including the makeup of a newborn Earth and potential clues to how life began on Earth. The ...
phil1008's user avatar
  • 7,170
2 votes
1 answer
206 views

Why not bring an extra rover with an ExoMars drill unit to Jezero to have a far better chance to get biosignatures for the sample return mission?

In an interview in the recent article Mars Has So Much Radiation, Any Signs of Life Would Be Buried Six Feet Under physicist Alexander Pavlov of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center tells that he and ...
Cornelis's user avatar
  • 7,535
3 votes
1 answer
100 views

Would planetary quarantine have to be used for asteroid mining missions?

Currently, sample return missions have to follow very delicate procedures to move the sample to the return vehicle. This is incredibly complicated and may explain why so few missions have launched. ...
WarpPrime's user avatar
  • 3,125
2 votes
1 answer
185 views

Is Perseverance going to keep carrying those samples around or cache them? I don't really understand the plan

IFLScience's Perseverance's Latest Mars Rock Sample Contains Curious "Greenish" Mineral begins: Having long broken its record of firsts on Mars, the Perseverance rover, still pootling ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 148k
3 votes
1 answer
149 views

Why did Luna 16 go to the Moon at night? (Extreme cold vs robotic sampling & launch back to Earth)

While landing on the Sun at night has obvious advantages1 I'm curious why Luna 16 landed on the Moon at night. It was a complex mission involving robotic sample retrieval and a sample return launch ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 148k
2 votes
0 answers
56 views

Are there plans to return empty sample containers as an experimental control?

The Perseverance rover contains 43 sample tubes for collecting Martian soil and rock samples that will eventually be returned to Earth. The tubes have been extensively cleaned, so their contents ...
DrSheldon's user avatar
  • 48k
3 votes
0 answers
36 views

Are the Perseverance core samples extracted from the drill bit before being stored?

Among other tasks, the Perseverance rover will drill core samples of rocks, which are then stored in sample tubes for their return to Earth. Are the core samples removed from the drill bit before ...
DrSheldon's user avatar
  • 48k
4 votes
1 answer
271 views

Lunar sample return cost per kg - Apollo vs Luna vs Chang'e

Lunar samples (rocks, soil etc.) were returned by US Apollo program, Russian Luna and Chinese Chang'e. How does the cost per kg of the samples compare among these missions? Who got it the cheapest per ...
Kozuch's user avatar
  • 1,493
1 vote
4 answers
523 views

Why does the Perseverance Rover do sample caching?

As glad as I am that Perseverance's landing was successful, I'm a bit confused as to why there appears to be so little science equipment aboard the rover (by volume) and why the mission seems to be ...
Dragongeek's user avatar
  • 19.6k
11 votes
1 answer
486 views

Perseverance individual sample collection post-mission; what stops them from blowing away or getting covered and hidden by dust?

I have been seeing videos that the plan after Perseverance is done collecting samples to distribute them in 'strategic' locations around Mars for another rover to drive around and pick up later. Why ...
necroncryptek's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
830 views

Minimum delta V required to return a piece of metallic asteroid 16 Psyche to Earth?

Suppose somebody sent a rover to Psyche 16 and found massive concentrated deposits of platinum-group metals near the surface, and turned it into a 10 ton sphere of platinum/iridium/osmium/gold alloy ...
Jonathan Ray's user avatar
26 votes
1 answer
3k views

What skipped test on Genesis would have detected the backwards-inserted accelerometer which didn't deploy the parachute?

What precautions are planned to prevent samples returned from Mars crashing and releasing organisms on Earth? and this answer to Why would bringing samples from Mars back to Earth be a “civilization-...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 148k
8 votes
2 answers
407 views

Actual mass of Chang'e 5 samples

What is the actual mass of the sample retrieved by Chang'e 5? Wikipedia says: with an expected return to Earth around 16 December 2020. Chang'e 5 will be China's first sample return mission, aiming ...
Suma's user avatar
  • 237
3 votes
2 answers
276 views

Actual mass of Hayabusa 2 samples in 2020?

Similar to Actual mass of Hayabusa samples in 2010?, but about the recent mission. What is the actual mass of the samples retrieved by Hayabusa 2? The most detailed information I was able to find is: ...
Suma's user avatar
  • 237

15 30 50 per page
1
2 3 4 5