The US space community is on the cusp of a major decision point for the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, with outgoing NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stating that the agency will announce its path forward in early January.
Nelson’s announcement comes amid growing concerns about the mission’s timeline and cost. The Independent Review Board report, published last September, suggested a mission cost of $11 billion and a return date of 2040, which Nelson deemed “way too expensive”.
In an effort to reduce costs and speed up the mission, NASA is now working with industry partners, including companies like Aerojet Rocketdyne, Blue Origin, and SpaceX. The agency has awarded over $5 million in contracts to eight companies to study alternative architectures for the mission.
Nelson said that the new proposals offer “much more practical” solutions, which could lower the cost and speed up the mission. However, the exact details of the new proposal remain unclear, and it’s still uncertain when the funds will be available to support the mission.
The Mars Sample Return mission was first proposed in 2009 as part of the ExoMars program, but its development has been plagued by technical issues and cost overruns. The mission aims to retrieve samples from Mars and return them to Earth for study, with NASA’s Perseverance rover already having collected samples on the planet.
The agency is now working to find a new path forward that balances the need for scientific discovery with the financial constraints imposed by the budgetary process. With Nelson’s announcement, it seems that the space community will soon have a clearer understanding of what the future holds for the MSR mission.
Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2024/12/27/nelson-decision-on-mars-sample-return-expected-before-new-administration-takes-office