Launch of the Mars Ascension vehicle with samples: This illustration shows a concept of how the NASA Ascension Mars vehicle, which carries tubes containing rock and soil samples, could be launched from the surface of Mars in a single step of the Mars test return mission. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech. Full image and subtitle ›
The award moves NASA and ESA one step closer to achieving Mars Sample Return, an ambitious planetary exploration program that will build on decades of science, knowledge and experience.
NASA has awarded the Mars Ascent Propulsion System (MAPS) contract to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation of Elkton, Maryland, to provide propulsion support and products for spaceflight missions at the agency’s Marshall spaceflight center in Huntsville, Alabama. Together with the successful touchdown of the Mars Perseverance rover, this award moves NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) one step closer to achieving Mars Sample Return (MSR), an extremely ambitious planetary exploration program that will be based on decades of science, and the experience of exploring Mars.
The fixed-cost cost-plus contract has a potential mission value of $ 60.2 million and a maximum potential value of $ 84.5 million. The contract begins on Thursday, March 4, with a base period of 14 months, followed by two option periods that can be exercised at NASA’s discretion.
In the next steps of the MSR campaign, NASA and ESA will provide components for a Sander Retrieval Lander mission and an Earth Return Orbiter mission. The Sander Retrieval Lander mission will provide a Sample Fetch Rover and Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) on the surface of Mars. Marshall is responsible for the MAV element of the MSR program, which is a two-stage vehicle, which will be a critical element in supporting MSR to recover and return the evidence that the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover will collect to return to Earth. The Martian environment will be a significant factor in the design, development, production, testing and qualification of two different solid rocket engines with multiple deliveries of each. Through the MAPS contract, Northrop Grumman will provide propulsion systems for MAV, as well as other support equipment and logistics services.
Bringing evidence from Mars back to Earth will allow scientists around the world to examine specimens using sophisticated tools that are too large and too complex to be sent to Mars, and will allow future generations to study them using technology that is not yet available. Clearing Earth’s evidence will allow the scientific community to test new theories and models as they develop, just as the Apollo evidence returned from the Moon for decades has done.
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News Media Contact
Gray Tombstone / Alana Johnson / Joshua Handal
NASA Headquarters, Washington
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Janet Sudnik
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-1216
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