A potential savior has emerged for NASA's unrealistic mission to bring Martian soil back to Earth.

In the Martian crater Jezero (“Lake”), nine capsules filled with soil are lying, along with another fifteen stored inside the Perseverance rover, which has been operating in the crater since 2021. It has been collecting and continues to gather these samples using its drilling apparatus. In total, the rover is set to fill 38 capsules. Which ones will be sent back to Earth will become clear when the time comes to retrieve them: this will be decided based on the condition of Perseverance at that moment.

These will be the first soil samples from another planet delivered to our planet. Moreover, scientists suspect that they may contain traces of extraterrestrial life.

In general, the samples need to be loaded onto a small rocket that will launch from Mars into space, where a small cargo ship will be waiting: the container with the capsules will be transferred to it and then sent to Earth.

Since NASA set this monumental task a few years ago, it has become clear that it risks being unachievable. Firstly, the necessary spacecraft have not been built, and recent forecasts suggest that it may take around 20 years to create them. Under such circumstances, the mission becomes meaningless: the first crewed flights to Mars are already expected within the next 20 years. Secondly, the project’s cost has turned out to be more than twice the initial estimate: 11 billion dollars compared to the originally budgeted five.

Therefore, in April 2024, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reached out to American space companies for assistance: it requested them to think through and present their proposals for a faster and less costly delivery of Martian soil. In June, among all the respondents, seven companies were chosen for the competition, including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, and Aerojet Rocketdyne. They were funded to develop a comprehensive mission concept, which they must present within 90 days.

Now, three months after the selection of competitors, another contender has unexpectedly emerged: Rocket Lab, which launches satellites aboard its lightweight Electron rocket and is developing a medium-lift vehicle called Neutron. According to estimates, it can carry between eight to fifteen tons of payload to low Earth orbit. The company proposes to use this rocket for interplanetary flights as well. It is claimed that it can deliver one and a half tons of cargo to Mars.

As reported by Rocket Lab, NASA initially did not see the need to include the company in the list of potential mission executors, but now the agency has changed its mind. Rocket Lab claims it can create a small rocket to lift 30 capsules weighing a total of two kilograms to a Martian orbit. To send a lander to Mars with this rocket and — separately — an orbital spacecraft, they propose launching two Neutron rockets two weeks apart.

The company assures that it can organize all of this for just two billion dollars, and no later than 2028. If successful, the samples could arrive on Earth in September 2033, possibly even two years earlier.

It is worth noting that in terms of the detail of presenting their ideas for delivering Martian soil, Rocket Lab can only be compared to the company that develops rocket engines, Aerojet Rocketdyne. In particular, it proposes to create a lander so lightweight that it could be lowered to the surface using an existing Sky Crane system. This system utilizes cables, which successfully lowered the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers onto Mars.