A meteorite that was launched from Mars and fell to Earth some 700,000 years ago is now returning to Mars, in what has been described as the “most ambitious” space campaign since Apollo.
The rock, known as Sayh al Uhamiyr 008 or SaU 008, was discovered in Oman in 1999 and has been under the care of the Natural History Museum since 2000.
The mission is believed to mark the first time in the museum’s history that it will return one of its meteorite samples to space.
The first stage of the Mars Sample Return project will start on July 30. The return is part of NASA’s long-term robotic exploration campaign on Mars, the main objective of which is to look for signs of ancient life and collect samples of rocks for possible Return to Earth.
To successfully carry out the mission, the team will send two meteorites, one of which is SaU 008, to space in a rover called Perseverance. The rover is estimated to land in Jezero Crater on Mars in February 2021.
Jezero Crater is a region of Mars that has been highlighted as a possible habitable environment in the past.
Once on Mars, Perseverance will use a combined high-precision laser, camera, and spectrometer, called SHERLOC, to illuminate the characteristics of the rocks and decipher the composition of the sample.
SHERLOC will use the SaU 008 meteorite as test material to ensure accuracy and precision before the instrument continues to investigate unknown samples.
The rover mission is expected to be the first element in a joint campaign by NASA and the European Space Agency for a sample return from Mars, meaning that samples collected by Perseverance may one day return to Earth for further investigation. .
The team also hopes that the information collected by Perseverance can provide insight into the possibility of future human life on Mars.
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