NASA has shared an update on its beleagueredMars Sample Return deputation , include that its previous plan was too challenging and announcing that it will now be looking for new ideas to make the mission happen . The idea is to send a mission to collect sample from the surface of Mars and return them to Earth for study . It ’s been a long - term goal of terrestrial science investigator , but one that is proving costly and difficult to put into pattern .
The Perseverance rover has already collected and seal a number of samples of Mars rock as it journeys around the Jezero Crater , and has left thesesamples in a sampling cacheready to be collected . However , getting them back to Earth in the previous design required send a fomite to Mars , set about it to land on the airfoil , send out another scouter to collect the sample and bring them back , launch a rocket from the planet ’s surface ( something which has never been done before ) , and then having this rocket rendezvous with another spacecraft to carry them back to Earth . That storey of complexness was just too much to be feasible within a reasonable budget , NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced this week .
“ Mars Sample Return will be one of the most complex missionary work NASA has ever undertaken . The bottom line is , an $ 11 billion budget is too expensive , and a 2040 recurrence date is too far aside , ” said Nelson in astatement . “ Safely landing and collecting the samples , launch a projectile with the samples off another planet — which has never been done before — and safely enrapture the sample distribution more than 33 million miles back to Earth is no little task . We need to search outside the box to happen a way forward that is both low-priced and returns samples in a reasonable time frame . ”
Now , NASA is aiming to come up with a less complicated and less expensive plan to get the sample distribution back to Earth . For this , NASA is both task the great unwashed within the agency to come up with a new plan and invite contributions from individual manufacture that could aid make the mission a reality . As well as find out a simpler and cheesy way to do affair , the office is also hop that the mission timeline can be convey into the 2030s rather than the 2040 engagement originally design .
The issues with the plans for Mars Sample Return are a blow for NASA , which has see great winner with the sending of rovers to Mars , but has clamber to keep congressional backing and public involvement in the next form of Mars exploration . However , NASA personnel acknowledge that challenge as part of the agency ’s study .
“ NASA does visionary skill — and returning diverse , scientifically relevant samples from Mars is a key priority , ” said Nicky Fox , associate administrator of NASA ’s Science Mission Directorate . “ To organise a mission at this level of complexness , we employ decades of lessons on how to run a large foreign mission , including contain the input we get from impart main reviews . Our next step will put us to work this transformational mission frontward and render radical skill from Mars — provide decisive raw brainstorm into the blood line and phylogeny of Mars , our solar system , and life on Earth . ”
