Europe's Earth Return Orbiter Reaches Design Maturity

Will Bring First Mars Samples Back to Earth

The ESA Earth Return Orbiter, the first spacecraft that will rendezvous and capture an object around another planet, passed a key milestone towards its goal of bringing the first Mars samples back to Earth.

“The configuration of the spacecraft is robust enough to be flexible with the cargo and to help finding solutions for a new architecture." Tiago Lour…