Questions tagged [sample-return]
Mission to some extraterrestrial object which results in return of materials to Earth for further examination.
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How did the Russians get moon rocks?
I've read somewhere that the Russians have moon rocks. How did they get them?
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Why would bringing samples from Mars back to Earth be a "civilization-level changing capability"?
The Space News article NASA continues Mars sample return mission studies
Among those planned missions is Mars sample return, a multi-mission architecture that involves collecting samples of Martian ...
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What is the deepest we have penetrated a terrestrial body other than Earth?
Curiosity drills 6.4 cm (2.5 inch) holes on Mars. Comet harpoons have been proposed for future space probes. There are a number of ways in which we can penetrate the surface of terrestrial bodies, but ...
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Who was the first person to touch the moon rocks?
This might be a stupid question, but I can't find and don't know the answer:
Everyone knows that Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin were the first men to land on/ walk on the moon. But were they ...
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Could there be any use with importing vacuum from space to Earth?
Space exploration pessimists say that there's nothing to import from space to Earth. So why not begin with doing exactly that?! :-)
It's commonly claimed that the vacuum of space is harder (emptier) ...
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Red Dragon sample return
How will the Red Dragon take off from Mars and get back to earth? All the drawings I've seen just show the capsule on the surface and no rocket to take off again or power the return flight. Could ...
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If there is actual ice on the moon, why hasn't it sublimated?
The Ars Technica article NASA seeks industry help with lunar landings, potentially sample return discusses the potential value of ice on the moon as a source for fuel in future space missions.
Ice ...
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Why NASA's sudden renewed (apparently) interest in Wax hybrid engines? Which property is so attractive now?
update:
This answer links to Larry Russell Kellogg which links to NASA Tests Environmentally Friendly Rocket Fuel where images of Test firing of new Paraffin-Based Fuel at NASA Ames Research Center 1/...
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What forms of water ice have been observed and verified in the solar system?
The cool plot in this answer (from here) got me thinking about the more than sixteen distinct forms of ice, and how many of them have been actually seen to occur naturally in the solar system.
There ...
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What are the differences in technology between OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa missions?
Up to now two spacecraft have been launched for an asteroid sample return mission. The first one Hayabusa is a completed mission and now OSIRIS-REx is an ongoing mission. Hayabusa was launched in 2003,...
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How will Bennu's volatile compounds stay cool and unmodified by the heat of re-entry (OSIRIS-REx)?
Watching the video in this NYTimes article NASA Aims at an Asteroid Holding Clues to the Solar System’s Roots I realized for the first time how the samples actually make it back to Earth.
The ...
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Which are the main challenges for sample return mission from an asteroid and a comet?
The first sample return mission from a comet has been achieved by NASA's Stardust spacecraft, and the first sample return mission from an asteroid has been achieved by JAXA's Hayabusa spacecraft. What ...
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Why haven't we returned samples from Mars?
So far, we have gotten rovers on Mars to take samples and analyze them and send data back to Earth. However, why haven't we gotten a rocket to land on Mars, collect a sample, and blast it off back to ...
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Why should the Mars 2020 rover drop drilled cores along its route to be picked up later?
The Mars 2020 rover will drill up real cores decimeter or so deep, in order for them to be returned to Earth by a follow up mission. I hear NASA people now seriously working on having that rover drop ...
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From which celestial bodies do we have samples?
Excluding our own, which bodies have we directly (or indirectly) gathered samples from? I'm aware of these:
Moon: moon rocks from Apollo
Mars: Martian meteorites found on Earth
What else?
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