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Mars 2020: NASA's new rover for Mars (December 2019) 0:38
(CNN) - NASA plans to bring Martian samples to Earth and is looking for someone to lead the mission.
The Mars Sample Return program (MSR), which will be developed over the next decade, aims to collect samples of Martian rocks, soil and atmosphere for analysis and testing on Earth.
NASA has previously sent several rovers to Mars, but no program or robot has been able to bring samples, which could give researchers new ideas about the Red Planet.
Proposals for this specific MSR program, carried out in collaboration with the European Space Agency, have been in process for years. Now he is finally taking shape and needs a director.
READ : These are the nine possible names for the Mars 2020 rover. Your vote can help NASA decide
The job offer for the MSR program director, posted on the US Government job site. UU., Offers an annual salary of up to $ 188,066. The director will be responsible for overseeing the entire program, from the early stages of planning the mission formulation, through design and development, to the final launch and mission.
Applicants must have experience in the execution of space flight programs and have a bachelor's degree in a relevant scientific field. The work will be based in Washington, DC and applications will close on February 5.
Bring Mars to Earth
NASA has sent four rovers to Mars so far, which are equipped with a range of instruments that can assess the soil, climate, planet's atmosphere, and more. The rovers have sent incredible data and photos from Mars, which have helped uncover the secrets of the planet, but there are only a few things that a compact rover can do.
Bringing samples to Earth for further analysis and testing is "the next logical step in robotic exploration of Mars," the European Space Agency said on its website.
The MSR project consists of three separate launches: sample collection, recovery and flight home.
Artistic illustration of the missions of MSR.
The first step is NASA's highly anticipated Mars 2020 mission, which will be launched in July from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rover, whose name will be decided and announced in March, will land on Mars in February 2021, where it will look for signs of ancient life, study climate science and conduct tests.
Crucially, it will also store a set of samples in small boats the size of a pen, and place them in "strategic areas" on the Martian surface, the European Space Agency site said.
Then, what the European Space Agency calls an "interplanetary treasure hunt". An agency rover will travel across the planet to collect the samples, then store them in a container the size of a basketball to be thrown into the orbit of Mars.
The third and final step will be to send an agency spacecraft to capture the sample container and take it back to Earth.
READ : NASA has just opened an intact lunar sample
"Like the return of the lunar rocks to Earth, bringing samples from Mars will be a defining moment in space exploration," the European Space Agency said in a press release last May.
"Bringing samples to Earth will facilitate studies that are simply not possible in miniaturized rotary laboratories, however sophisticated, and perhaps most importantly, will allow future discoveries as analytical techniques improve over time."
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