It’s an ask never before attempted: Launch samples off the surface of another planet for return to Earth — using a rocket you first have to launch from Earth using a bigger rocket and then land on Mars.
Yet this is exactly the contract Lockheed Martin has won from NASA for their Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), a crucial part of the larger inter-agency Mars Sample Return effort from NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) currently underway on the Red Planet with the Perseverance rover.
But just how will Lockheed Martin accomplish this feat — as the rocket has to land on the surface, then open up to allow the samples (the payload) to be placed inside, and then launch into Mars orbit so those samples can be retrieved by the waiting ESA Earth Return Orbiter?