(ORDO NEWS) — The European Space Agency (ESA) showed a robotic arm that will collect samples of Martian soil to send them to Earth.
The device, dubbed the Sample Transfer Arm (STA), will play a critical role in NASA and ESA’s plans to return the first Martian samples to Earth.
The 2.5-meter-long manipulator will collect titanium tubes with samples left by the Perseverance rover from the surface of Mars, in order to then move them to a small Mars Ascent Vehicle rocket.
That, in turn, will carry the cargo into orbit and transfer it to the Earth Return Orbiter spacecraft.
And this device will already fly to Earth and deliver scientists a precious cargo, in which (possibly!) They will find signs of the ancient microbial life of the Red Planet.
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