According to the recent reports out there, NASA has officially given a huge contract to Lockheed Martin for building a Mars Ascent Vehicle.
NASA awarded a $194 million contract to Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin will be building the first-ever Mars Ascent Vehicle. NASA gave $194 million for the project. It is basically a rocket that will help in bringing all different rocks, sediments, and even atmospheric samples from Mars to Earth.
The vehicle will be a part of the multi-mission campaign carried out by NASA.
It is going to be one of their best achievements. The vehicle will return to Earth with samples till 2030.
NASA’s prevalence rover has been working on mars for the past few months
According to Auto Evolution, the special rover designed for mars has been digging on the planet. The rover is working hard and overcoming all the challenges faced on the red planet. It is digging the land and collecting different samples. Ultimately it is storing the information along with the samples. NASA plans to bring back the samples collected by the prevalence rover in order to study the secrets of the planet.
MAV to become the first-ever vehicle to blast off from another planet than Earth
According to the data, it is going to take more than a decade to transfer all the samples from the planet to the laboratories. Hence NASA is working hard and is trying to collaborate with different agencies who can help in building the campaign. The Mars Ascent Vehicle will play a crucial role in completing the project. According to the sources, the vehicle will work along with the Agency’s Sample Retrieval Lander, the European Space Agency (ESA) Sample Fetch Rover, and the Earth Return Orbiter. This can help in making the entire project simpler.
The lander will take off from the Kennedy Space Center in the year 2026. A small ESA machine known as the ample Fetch Rover will go along the vehicle into space. It will return to the Earth in the year 2030. If the mission gets successful, things can change regarding the interaction with the Red Planet.
