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  • NEWS EXPLAINER

How space missions snatch pieces of other worlds and bring them back to Earth

As NASA prepares to launch the first spacecraft that will collect samples from Mars, Nature looks at back at missions that have grabbed extraterrestrial material.
By
  1. Alexandra Witze
Asteroid Bennu with particle plumes

Bennu is one of three asteroids that have been the target of sample-return missions. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission will collect material from Bennu. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin/Science Photo Library

NASA is about to grab its first taste of Mars. On 30 July, its Perseverance rover is set to launch to the red planet — the first step towards fulfilling a long-standing dream of planetary scientists. If everything goes to plan, Perseverance will arrive in February 2021 and drive around, collecting samples of rock that — one day — other spacecraft will pick up and fly back to Earth. The rocks will become the first samples ever returned from Mars.

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Nature 584, 16-17 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02185-9

References

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