# Design a Sample Return

Part of the Space Exploration Merit Badge Digital Resource Guide: [Introduction & Overview](https://merit-badge.university/merit-badges/space-exploration/guide/index.md)

*5. Mission Pathways*

> **5c.** Design a robotic mission to another planet, moon, comet, or asteroid that will return samples of its surface to Earth. Name the planet, moon, comet, or asteroid your spacecraft will visit. Show how your design will cope with the conditions of the environments of the planet, moon, comet, or asteroid.

Sample-return missions are some of the hardest robotic missions ever attempted. A spacecraft has to travel to another world, arrive safely, collect material without contaminating it, launch or depart again, and then get the sample home in one piece. That means your design should solve a chain of problems, not just draw a cool spacecraft.

## Start with the destination

Your first choice controls almost everything else. A mission to an asteroid deals with tiny gravity and loose rubble. A mission to Mars deals with dust, cold temperatures, and the challenge of launching back off another planet. A mission to a comet may face fast motion, weak gravity, and fragile icy material.

## Build around the environment

**Questions your design must answer** — Use the environment to drive the spacecraft design

- [ ] **How will it land or make contact?** Gravity, terrain, and atmosphere all matter.
- [ ] **How will it collect the sample?** Scoop, drill, core tube, sticky pad, or another method?
- [ ] **How will it protect the sample?** Keep it sealed, labeled, and uncontaminated.
- [ ] **How will it get home?** Return capsule, ascent stage, or rendezvous plan?
- [ ] **How will it survive local conditions?** Temperature, dust, radiation, weak sunlight, or rough terrain?

## Think like a systems engineer

A strong answer explains why the mission choices fit the destination. If you choose Europa, you need to explain radiation and extreme cold. If you choose an asteroid, you need to explain how the spacecraft will anchor or hover without bouncing away. If you choose Titan, you need to consider thick atmosphere, cold temperatures, and long travel time.

> **Tip**
>
> When you describe your spacecraft, connect every feature to a problem. For example, "I added wide solar arrays because my mission stays far from the Sun" is much stronger than just saying "It has solar panels."

## A simple mission structure

One useful pattern is:

1. **Launch from Earth**
2. **Cruise through space**
3. **Arrive and survey the target**
4. **Collect the sample**
5. **Store and seal it**
6. **Return it to Earth**
7. **Recover the capsule safely**

![Diagram showing the stages of a robotic sample-return mission from launch to Earth recovery](https://ik.imagekit.io/doulacoop/tr:w-800/mbu-assets/merit-badges/space-exploration/guide/sample-return-mission-diagram?v=86f0f154)

> **Be Prepared! What to emphasize when you present your design**
>
> - **Destination choice**: Why is that world worth sampling?
> - **Sample method**: How exactly will the spacecraft grab material?
> - **Environment problems**: What could go wrong there?
> - **Engineering answer**: What design choices solve those problems?

This option has no official requirement-level links, so your best evidence is a clear diagram or model plus a strong explanation of how the environment shaped your design.

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- Next: [Choose a Space Home](https://merit-badge.university/merit-badges/space-exploration/guide/req6/index.md)