NASA looking for help to run its Mars sample missions
By Hannah Sparks, New York Post, January 27, 2020
ESA/ATG Medialab
NASA wants to know if you have what it takes to lead the first mission to collect Martian samples.
The American space agency is seeking a program director to run the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program, which aims to collect samples of rock, soil and air from Mars and return to Earth for analysis.
Although four rovers have made it to the red planet so far, none have been able to retrieve samples of the alien world. The new project, created in collaboration with the European Space Agency, hopes to carry out their missions over the next decade.
According to NASA’s careers website, the MSR program director will be expected to supervise the planning, design and development of the missions to Mars. The new role will go to a candidate with experience in the spaceflight field, as well as a relevant college degree, and promises an annual salary of up to $188,066. The job is based in Washington, DC, and applicants have until Feb. 5 to submit their résumés.
The ESA says the inaugural mission will entail gathering hard samples to be stored in canisters the size of a pen, and hidden on the Martian surface in “strategic areas.” A follow-up mission will embark on an “interplanetary treasure hunt” to retrieve those samples — then launch them into Mars’ orbit.
The last step involves sending an ESA spacecraft to scoop up the specimen and return them to Earth for analyzing.
“Like the return of moon rocks to Earth, bringing back samples of Mars will be a defining moment in space exploration,” said the ESA in a May 2019 press release. “Bringing samples back to Earth will facilitate studies that are simply not possible in the miniaturized rover laboratories — however sophisticated — and, perhaps more importantly, will enable future discoveries as analytical techniques improve over time.”
NASA and the ESA hope to launch the first MSR mission in July 2020, from Cape Canaveral, Fla., with a touchdown on Mars planned for February 2021. The name of the rover will be announced in March of this year.
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