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Establish a testbed and develop robotic technology to demonstrate capability to retrieve a surface cache of Mars samples and deliver that cache to a Mars Ascent Vehicle.
The task will assess the requirements for a testbed to study the retrieval of a Mars sample cache from the Martian surface, or from a Mars caching rover, and subsequent delivery of that cache to the upper stage of a Mars Ascent Vehicle for launch into Mars orbit. The testbed will be implemented and used to develop and demonstrate prototype architectures and technologies for cache retrieval and transfer.
Results of this effort will be fed back to the Mars 2020 mission to inform their design of the sample caching system, including cache design and location of the sample caching system on rover.
Results of this effort will demonstrate capabilities needed for a potential future Sample Retrieval Lander mission.
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This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.
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