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[music]

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The planet Mars has been mysterious for
centuries but over the past few decades

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a fleet of orbiting and landed
spacecraft has greatly advanced our

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understanding of it. Based on this
knowledge Mars scientists are now ready

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to take the next big step bringing
Martian samples back to earth where the

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full power of our terrestrial
laboratories could be applied to

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unlocking the story of the red planet's
geology climate and especially its

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potential for life, either in the past or
even today.  But however you tackle it

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returning samples from Mars is
definitely a complicated problem, so how

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could we actually get a sample from Mars? One approach is to use a series of three

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spacecraft working together like a relay
team to deliver samples to Earth.  NASA's

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next Mars rover, currently in development
and planned for launch in 2020, will

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acquire a set of carefully selected
samples of rocks and surface material

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and store them in sealed tubes for
possible return to Earth.  NASA and the

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European Space Agency are now working
together

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to explore options for a pair of
missions that could take the next steps

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to bring these samples back.  In one
scenario after the Mars 2020 Rover has

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placed its collected samples on the
Martian surface

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a second follow-on mission would land
nearby,  deploy a small Rover to fetch the

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samples,  and bring them back to the
lander where there would be loaded into

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a container and placed atop a small
rocket. The rocket would then lift off

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carrying the samples up into Mars orbit.

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Waiting in orbit will be a third
spacecraft, an  Earth return orbiter that

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would find the samples in space,  catch up with them,  capture the container and

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bring it back to Earth.  With Mars samples
safely back on earth scientists around

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the world would be able to study them in
state-of-the-art laboratories for

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decades to come. The payoff of a sample
return would be a breakthrough in our