An Italian company was commissioned to create an unusual structure.
James Webb Space Telescope amazing shots Last week, the light was pulled from Mars research, but that doesn’t mean there are no events around the Red Planet. The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected the company that will deliver the special robotic arm needed to deliver Martian soil and rock samples to Earth.
The winner was the Italian Leonardo, and the robot arm was a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency Mars Sample Return (MSR) It will be posted on a mission.
The purpose of the MSR is to bring the samples collected by the Perseverance rover home already on site. The craft that landed last year carried 48 tubes, some filled with rocks, soil and atmospheric samples. During the mission beginning in the second half of the decade, ESA will deliver three additional instruments to Mars: a robotic-arm lander sample, a payload rocket (Mars Ascent Vehicle, MAV) and a Mars-orbiter (Earth Return) Orbiter, ERO ).
The robotic arm’s mission will be to load samples from the Perseverance Wagon aboard the MAV, which will eventually transfer the precious cargo to ERO, which shortens the distance between Mars and Earth. The mission, which is due to end in 2033, is a huge challenge, and if successful, it will be the first time humanity has sent a vehicle into outer space from the surface of an alien planet.
The robot arm STA has already passed the prototype stage, and the Italian manufacturer is expected to present the final version in 2025. The structure with a height of 2.5 meters is similar to that of a human arm, with elbow, shoulder and wrist parts, thanks to which it can be operated in 7 ranges of motion. Leonardo also revealed that thanks to “arithmetic skin,” the robotic arm can feel and see. The STA also received a central “brain” that makes independent decisions, as well as eyes, the latter in the form of two cameras.
The next stage of the Mars sample retrieval mission will be the delivery of the sample retrieval probe to the Red Planet with a robotic arm on board, accompanied by the Mars Ascent Rover.
