Browsing: Mars Sample Return

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson informed a House committee that budget constraints resulted in cuts to agency programs and urged them to allocate funds for a space station deorbit vehicle in a supplemental funding bill.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson defended the agency’s plans to reduce or cancel some agency programs at a House hearing, assigning much of the blame to Congress.

NASA is open to considering proposals to change its Mars Sample Return program, even if they involve bringing back as few as 10 sample tubes, which is less than originally planned.

The challenges NASA is encountering with Mars Sample Return (MSR) are part of a long-standing difficulty the agency faces with science missions that sometimes deliberately reach beyond their limits, according to agency officials and advisers.

Efforts by scientists to use a Mars rover to collect samples are continuing even as NASA wraps up a new assessment of when and how those samples will be brought back to Earth.

NASA states that its fiscal year 2025 budget proposal is limited by the second year of a debt-ceiling agreement that places a cap on overall spending, resulting in delays, potential cancellations, and broader uncertainty for many NASA science programs.

China is making progress toward a 2030 launch for its Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission and has narrowed down potential landing areas.