Bringing Mars Rocks to Earth

NASA is revising plans to return rock samples collected by the Perseverance rover on Mars, aiming to cut costs and accelerate the timeline to the late 2030s. New strategies include using a "sky crane" landing system or large probes launched by heavy-lift rockets. The Mars rocks, some up to 4 billion years old, could provide crucial information about the planet's evolution, past oceans, and potential ancient microbial life. Scientists expect to study these samples for generations, similar to ongoing examinations of lunar rocks from Apollo missions.