Mars Sample Return: How NASA Plans to Bring a Piece of Mars Home

Perseverance has been drilling pencil-thin cores from the floor of Jezero Crater since 2021. Mars Sample Return is the mission to bring those tubes — and any biosignatures they contain — back to Earth, where laboratories with instruments far more powerful than any rover can carry will analyze them grain by grain.

The three-part architecture

1. NASA Sample Retrieval Lander — touches down near Perseverance carrying a Mars Ascent Vehicle and helicopters as a backup retrieval option.
2. Mars Ascent Vehicle — the first rocket ever launched from another planet, carrying the sample container into Mars orbit.
3. ESA Earth Return Orbiter — captures the orbiting sample container and brings it back to Earth for landing in Utah.

Why the engineering is unprecedented

Every step has never been done before. Landing a heavy lander next to a working rover. Launching a rocket from Mars. Performing rendezvous in Mars orbit. Sealing samples to a planetary protection standard that prevents any Mars material from contaminating Earth's biosphere — and any Earth material from contaminating Mars.

Samples collected

23+ sealed tubes (as of 2026)

Site

Jezero Crater — an ancient river delta

Mars Ascent Vehicle

Two-stage solid-propellant rocket, ~3 m tall

Earth landing

Utah Test and Training Range

Sample mass

~500 g of carefully chosen rock and regolith

What the samples can tell us

• Whether ancient Mars hosted microbial life — the search for biosignatures is the headline goal.
• The exact age of Martian volcanic and sedimentary rocks via radiometric dating, which orbital and rover instruments cannot do.
• The history of Mars' atmosphere preserved in volcanic glass.
• Whether the building blocks of life could be transported between planets via meteorites.

When will Mars come home?

Originally planned for return in 2033, the timeline has been replanned to control cost growth. NASA is evaluating commercial options to accelerate or reduce cost. Expect tubes to land on Earth in the early 2030s under the current schedule.