SPACE ART: Mars Sample Return

In this concept, a spacecraft would carry two or more miniature rovers to Mars, where the vehicles would rove independently, collecting soil and rock samples which would then be returned to the mothership. The sample return spacecraft would be able to blast off the surface of Mars, as seen here, carrying the soil samples, and rendezvous with an orbiter circling Mars.

The sample return spacecraft would carry a mechanical funnel or other mechanical appendage in which the soil samples could be transferred in space to the orbiter. The orbiter would then return the samples to Earth.

Painting by Pat Rawlings for NASA.