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NASA has awarded Lockheed Martin Space a contract to build the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), a lightweight rocket that will launch rock and atmospheric samples from Mars. This milestone brings NASA closer to its goal of the first robotic round-trip mission to safely return samples to Earth through the Mars Sample Return Program. The MAV, a crucial part of the campaign, will launch from Mars' surface and deliver the samples to an Earth Return Orbiter spacecraft, which will bring them back to Earth in the early- to mid-2030s.
Monday, 7 February, 2022