NASA has announced its decision to study two distinct strategic paths for the troubled Mars Sample Return mission, which aims to bring Martian rocks and soil back to Earth. The agency will consider both traditional NASA techniques and leveraging commercial space companies’ jumbo rockets to make the mission more feasible.
The tried-and-true path involves using the “sky crane” technique, employed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to drop rovers on Mars. In contrast, the private industry option is less clear, with NASA mulling a range of proposals from commercial companies.
“The only ‘responsible’ thing to do is to give the incoming administration more than one option for Mars Sample Return,” said Bill Nelson, NASA administrator. The decision defers a final decision on the mission architecture, keeping the mission in limbo.
The Mars Sample Return mission is considered “too-big-to-fail” due to its decades-long scientific significance and the Perseverance rover’s existing samples. Scientists want to study those samples with technologies not yet invented. NASA estimates that the new simplified mission could cost between $5.8 billion and $7.1 billion.
The agency’s top science administrator, Nicola “Nicky” Fox, emphasized the importance of bringing samples back to Earth: “Bringing [samples] back will revolutionize our understanding of Mars and indeed our place in the solar system.”
The commercial space industry has undergone significant changes, with NASA now awarding multi-billion-dollar contracts to private companies. The original plan required a complex fleet of spaceships, but the new design aims to simplify the mission while still achieving its objectives.
With options ranging from 2035 to 2039, NASA is taking a cautious approach to ensure the success of the Mars Sample Return mission.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025/01/07/mars-sample-return-nasa