Single-launch Mars sample return via hybrid chemical–electric propulsion and autonomous quadruped robotic retrieval

The Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission is a major but prohibitively expensive goal of planetary exploration. This article presents a conceptual single-launch integrated mission architecture that consolidates entry, descent, and landing (EDL), surface sample retrieval, Mars ascent, and Earth-return functions (traditionally distributed across three separate spacecraft) into one capsule-class vehicle delivered by one heavy-lift expendable launcher. Here, “single-launch” applies only to a single launc