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it's quite amazing to me to think about some of the things humans are capable of

The Mars Sample Return Mission is tentatively scheduled for launch in 2027

from an earlier mission a Rover is collecting samples for future return to Earth

Nasa and Esa are collaborating on a follow up mission that would include a Retrieval Lander which would launch the samples aboard the Mars ascent vehicle

once the vehicle reaches Mars orbit an ESA led Earth return orbiter will rendezvous with it and bring the samples back to Earth

the tentative scheduling is for the orbiter to land back on Earth sometime in 2033

the samples will then be analyzed for signs of past life

Mars is about 173 million miles away

wow

below is a truly amazing vid from the Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory showing how these samples will be returned to Earth

the plan is for the samples inside the Earth Entry Vehicle to land passively in the desert sands of Utah which will help protect them from impact forces

the 2nd vid, also from Nasa, is re the mission and the deliberate disposal of the Cassini probe of Saturn via a controlled fall into Saturn's atmosphere

it took almost 7 years for the probe to reach Saturn which is almost one billion miles away from Earth











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