Earth Return Orbiter lens

Lense of the narrow angle camera model used to detect the Orbiting Sample in low Mars orbit.

ESA’s Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) is one of three missions launched from Earth that would be part of the intricate Mars Sample Return campaign to bring martian rock, soil and atmospheric samples back to Earth.

ERO will have the challenge of capturing a basketball-sized capsule launched from the surface of Mars filled with a set of samples previously collected by Perseverance.

In addition to the rendezvous and return mission, ERO would provide critical Mars-Earth communications coverage for the NASA’s Perseverance rover and the Sample Retrieval Lander to deliver the martian samples.

Just as the Apollo Moon samples have fuelled research for decades, the scientific community would have pristine samples from Mars to study for years to come. 

ERO’s round-trip to the Red Planet, as well as its rendezvous with an object launched from the martian surface, would pave the way for crewed missions to Mars.