Mars sample return - Mission profile, Technology Challenges and planetary protection issues

The Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission will ensure the safe retrieval of a sample of the Martian surface, subsurface and atmosphere and their protected return to Earth. MSR is amongst the most demanding missions ever designed in Europe. The baseline architecture is to launch the mission on two Ariane 5 ESC-A launch vehicles, with the launches separated by 5 months. The first launch will carry the orbiter spacecraft which is required for rendezvous with the sample in Mars orbit and the return of the sample to the Earth. The second spacecraft carries the surface elements of the mission. On landing, samples are acquired and transferred to a sample container located on the Mars Ascent Vehicle that will launch them into orbit. The rendezvous between the orbiter and the samples then takes place. The samples are then returned to Earth and released in the Earth Re-entry Capsule. MSR has the added demand of ensuring planetary protection concerns are met for both Earth and Mars. Prevention of 'forward' contamination of Mars is familiar from previous Mars missions and must ensure that all landed material has a terrestrial microbiological load of less than the COSPAR regulations. The more challenging aspect of the planetary protection for the mission is meeting the 'backward' contamination requirements. The Earth return trajectory is biased to ensure that the sample will not intersect with the Earth unless the sample containment is verified. If the sample containment can subsequently be verified, an Earth targeting manoeuvre is made. Verification of this containment is another major technological challenge for MSR. The MSR mission is part of the ESA Aurora program for Mars exploration and is currently undergoing Phase A study. This talk will outline the mission profile and architecture, technology challenges and the major planetary protection issues.