NASA is looking for innovative methods to recover samples collected by the Perseverance rover on Mars in the future, as reported by (CNN). The rover, which landed on Mars in February 2021, has been collecting specimens from Jezero Crater, where an ancient lake and river delta once existed on the red planet. Scientists believe the samples could help better understand whether life ever existed on Mars.
The original design of the Mars Sample Return program, a partnership between NASA and the European Space Agency, was complex. It involved launching multiple missions from Earth to Mars to collect the samples and then performing the first rocket launch from the surface of another planet to return the samples to Earth.
However, concerns have been raised about the program’s complexity, expense, and delayed return date, which was originally expected in 2031 but was pushed back after evaluations by an independent review board. Budget cuts at NASA have also put the program at risk.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Nicky Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, shared the agency’s response to the independent review board on Monday. Nelson stated that returning the Mars sample should cost no more than $5 billion to $7 billion, but with budget constraints in fiscal years 2024 and 2025, NASA is facing a $2.5 billion reduction.
“Mars Sample Return will be one of the most complex missions NASA has ever undertaken. The bottom line is that an $11 billion budget is too expensive and a return date of 2040 is too far away,” Nelson said. “We need to think outside the box to find a way forward that is affordable and provides samples in a reasonable timeframe.”
NASA is now calling for help to develop a new plan that combines innovation with reliable technology for a return mission in the 2030s with less complexity, cost, and risk. The space agency aims to have proposals for the best way to return Mars samples by fall.
While the current decisions will not affect the science plan for Perseverance’s trip to Mars, NASA is determined to push forward with the Mars Sample Return program to gain critical new insights into the origins and evolution of Mars, our solar system, and life on Earth.