NASA will set up new Mars Sample Receiving Project office at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The office will reside within Johnson’s Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science division.
The safe and rapid release of Mars samples after they return to Earth to laboratories worldwide for science investigations will be a priority.
NASA is working with the European Space Agency to bring back the samples to Earth.
The mission will involve the launch of a NASA lander and an ESA Earth Return Orbiter to Mars to collect the samples from Perseverance.
Returning samples to Earth from Mars is expected to be the most complex robotic space flight campaign ever attempted.
The NASA-European Space Agency (ESA) Mars Sample Return Campaign promises to revolutionize humanity’s understanding of Mars.
This strategic NASA and ESA partnership would be the first mission to return scientifically selected samples from another planet.
NASA previously said that analyzing the samples would help scientists understand the history of Mars
The Perseverance rover has collected samples from Mars since the spacecraft landed in Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.