Evolving the Ingenuity Aerial GN System for Mars Sample Recovery

NASA and ESA are currently engaged in a joint campaign to gather samples of Martian rocks and regolith and return them to Earth. The concept for this cam- paign was recently revised to include two Sample Recovery Helicopters, capable of collecting pre-filled sample tubes from the Martian surface and delivering them to the system that will launch the samples from the Martian surface. The Sample Recovery Helicopter design is based around that of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, adapted for the task of retrieving and delivering samples. In this paper, we give an overview of how Ingenuity’s guidance, navigation, and control system is being evolved to meet the requirements of the sample recovery mission.