Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
For the first time in history, pieces of Mars are coming home. NASA and ESA’s MSR mission will deliver samples from Jezero Crater to Earth’s labs in the 2030s.
Since 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover has been drilling into ancient Martian rock, storing samples that could hold secrets of life from billions of years ago.
In a sci-fi leap made real, a separate spacecraft will retrieve the samples and launch them from the Martian surface—humanity’s first interplanetary relay.
Could life have once thrived on Mars? These rocks might reveal microbial fossils or chemical biosignatures from Mars' wetter, warmer past.
Earth’s safety comes first. COSPAR demands that samples undergo life detection and sterilization before scientists get hands-on access.
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The Martian cargo will land in Utah under tight security. Scientists will handle them in SRFs—high-containment labs equipped for alien precautions.
High-tech tools like mass spectrometers and electron microscopes will scan every grain for the smallest signs of past biology.
To prevent contamination, NASA’s isolator cabinets offer fortress-like containment—shielding both Earth from Mars, and Mars from Earth.
Global teams will analyze, replicate, and verify results before the world hears if we’ve found evidence of life on another planet.
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