Curation of the returned sample would take place at NASA's Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate, based at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

[7] Comet 67P was previously explored by the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe and its lander Philae during 2014-2016 to determine its origin and history.

Squyres explained that knowing the existing conditions at the comet allows them to design systems that would dramatically improve the chances for success.

CAESAR's objectives were to understand the formation of the Solar System and how these components came together to form planets and give rise to life.

[4] Some researchers have hypothesized that Earth may have been seeded with organic compounds early in its development by tholin-rich comets, providing the raw material necessary for life to emerge.

[12][13] The spacecraft would be built by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems and it would inherit technology used by the successful Dawn mission.

The spacecraft would not land on the comet, but would momentarily contact the surface with its TAG (Touch-And-Go) robotic arm, as done by OSIRIS-REx on an asteroid, including raising the solar arrays into a Y-shaped configuration to minimize the chance of dust accumulation during contact and provide more ground clearance.

[4] The capsule would parachute down at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR), and it would be transported to NASA's Johnson Space Center for curation and analyses at the laboratory called Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate (ARES).