The U.S. will launch the world

NASA ordered Lockheed Martin to develop a rocket to launch from Mars.

NASA has ordered the U.S. company Lockheed Martin to create a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) rocket, which will deliver samples of Martian rocks to Earth.

The $194 million contract is to be implemented within six years. It is noted that the MAV will be the world's first rocket, launched from another planet. The product is planned to be used, among other things, to deliver rocks and sediment extracted by the Mars rover Perseverance to Earth in the 2030s.

In September 2021, Adam Stelzner, chief engineer of the Perseverance rover, announced the successful acquisition of the first Martian soil sample.

In April of the same year, the Perseverance rover's unmanned Ingenuity helicopter made its first flight to Mars.

Perseverance landed on the surface of the Red Planet in February 2021.