You Searched For "sample return mission" and got 19 results
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3 mins read
NASA is hiring someone to help figure out how to get Mars rocks back to Earth - and the position pays at least $182,000
Formally, the job is director of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program, which aims to bring scientis…
Holly Secon
3 mins read
NASA is asking for help to retrieve Mars samples that could be the first evidence of alien life
NASA's Perseverance rover is collecting Mars rock and soil that could contain hints of ancient alie…
Morgan McFall-Johnsen
2 mins read
NASA is about to announce the finalists of its next $1 billion space mission
Previous missions selected by New Frontiers include New Horizons, a nuclear-powered probe that flew…
Dave Mosher
4 mins read
Here's why NASA is risking nearly $1 billion to suck up 2.1 ounces of dirty asteroid
If all goes according to plan, the 1.7-ton OSIRIS-REx probe - short for Origins, Spectral Interpret…
Dave Mosher
4 mins read
NASA's asteroid-blasting spacecraft has stored over 2 pounds of alien dust and rock to bring back to Earth
Mission scientists raced to stash the asteroid sample because it was leaking into space. Now the pr…
Susie Neilson,Morgan McFall-J…
4 mins read
NASA has collected its first Mars sample. But it needs $4 billion, 10 years, and new technology to bring the rock to Earth.
The Perseverance rover kicked off its search for signs of ancient microbial Mars life. But to compl…
Morgan McFall-Johnsen
5 mins read
China wants to launch to Mars next year - part of an ambitious plan to bring the first Martian soil samples back to Earth
The mission plans call for sending a lander, rover, and satellite to Mars, with the lander and rove…
Dave Mosher
3 mins read
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is about to suck up asteroid rubble for the first time. Watch the risky maneuver live.
The NASA probe will attempt an intergalactic high-five with asteroid Bennu and use a robotic arm to…
Susie Neilson,Morgan McFall-J…
2 mins read
The Next Rover To Explore Mars Will Send Samples Back To Earth
Scientists have learned from Curiosity that Mars once had an environment that was potentially habit…
Dina Spector
2 mins read
China's wildly ambitious future in space just got a big boost with the successful launch of its new heavy-lift rocket
The version of the Long March 5 that launched on Friday can heave payloads weighing up to 51,000 lb…
Dave Mosher
2 mins read
A Chinese spacecraft just brought moon rocks back to Earth - the first time any country has achieved the feat since 1976
The capsule, part of China's Chang'e-5 mission, brought back 4.4 pounds of rocks from a previously …
Susie Neilson
6 mins read
A NASA spacecraft just landed on an asteroid to suck up rocky dust to bring back to Earth. Here's how the mission works.
NASA's Osiris-Rex could find ingredients for life on an asteroid that might crash into Earth. But t…
Morgan McFall-Johnsen
3 mins read
NASA just scored a badly needed win: The best potential evidence of alien life yet
The Perseverance rover found potential evidence of life on Mars. Three features make the rock promi…
Morgan McFall-Johnsen
1 min read
NASA will preserve asteroid samples from OSIRIS-Rex for centuries to come so that scientists not even born yet can study them
The asteroid samples landed in the Utah desert Sunday morning, ending NASA's first ever mission to …
Maiya Focht,Katie Hawkinson
4 mins read
Japan has completed its 3-billion-mile mission to collect dust from an asteroid. Photos show the prize falling into Australia like a fireball.
The world now has its first asteroid samples. A Japanese spacecraft bombed asteroid Ryugu to collec…
Morgan McFall-Johnsen
1 min read
China's Chang'e-5 probe prepares for a soft landing on the moon
China's Chang'e-5 probe is preparing for a soft landing on the moon to undertake the country's firs…
3 mins read
A Japanese spacecraft is about to send a 'treasure box' of asteroid dust plummeting to Earth. Watch the sample return live.
Hayabusa-2 is set to drop bits of asteroid rock down into the Australian outback on Saturday - the …
Morgan McFall-Johnsen
2 mins read
NASA just picked 2 finalists for its next billion-dollar space mission - here's what the projects could accomplish
Dragonfly is a dual-quadcopter lander that would take advantage of the environment on Titan to fly …
Hilary Brueck
3 mins read
China just launched a mission to the moon to collect rock samples — the first time a country will have done so in more than 40 years
The Chang'e-5 mission is the latest step in China's ambitious plan to land on and study the moon. T…