ARCHIVED: This proposed mission is not currently in the plan for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. The following is provided for informational purposes.

Mars 2018 Mission

Overview

NASA’s Mars 2018 Mission was a proposed solar-powered rover mission that would have carried with it the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) ExoMars rover.

The goal of the formerly proposed NASA rover was to collect and cache samples of interest for a potential return to Earth by a future mission. It would have studied rocks to look for scientifically exciting samples, including those that might have the potential to have preserved signs of past life on Mars. It was designed to collect a few dozen such samples from several locations near its landing site. To collect the rock samples, the rover would have used coring tools. Once it collected and sealed the samples in canisters, the rover would driven to a safe location and placed the canisters for possible later pick-up by a future mission with a “fetch” rover.

Updated: February 2012