FISHING ON OTHER WORLDS

Could space fishing be the answer to a low-cost sample-and-return mission?

Despite a raft of probes and landers reaching the surface of far-off planets, moons, asteroids and comets, nothing quite beats having extraterrestrial samples in your hands to analyse. However, the high cost this entails has been extremely prohibitive up until now. Scientists have had to be able to find a spot to land, touch down gently on the surface, collect samples and finally have enough fuel left to escape the gravity of their landing site. This takes time, precision and money, so the quest to find a practical way to collect samples cheaply has been a high priority for a long time. Enter Professor Robert Winglee and his team from the University of Washington, who have come up with the concept of fishing for samples in space.