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NASA’s About to Make a Big Announcement About Mars. Here’s What We Know. – ScienceAlert

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We're about to find out what's happening with NASA's beleaguered Mars Sample Return mission. In just a few hours at 1PM EDT NASA is going to host a media teleconference that sets out its recommendations for moving forward.

The mission has been ongoing for several years, with the deployment of the Perseverance rover in February 2021. Part of Perseverance's mission is to gather interesting samples of Martian rock to be collected by another mission and returned to Earth.

Last year, the future of the Mars sample return mission became shaky after an independent review determined that the program had "unrealistic budget and schedule expectations", an "unwieldy structure" and was "not arranged to be led effectively".

The House and Senate appropriations committees subsequently recommended a budget that included a cut of $454,080,000 to NASA's 2024 budget, specifically from the Mars Sample Return mission. NASA has also reduced spending on the mission, and laid off a large number of workers and contractors from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is leading the mission.

This has led to some alarm that the mission may be axed, and the canisters filled by Perseverance left useless on the surface of Mars. NASA's upcoming announcement offers a glimmer of hope yet maybe.

"Mars Sample Return has been a major long-term goal of international planetary exploration for the past two decades," the agency writes.

"NASA's Perseverance rover is collecting compelling science samples that will help scientists understand the geological history of Mars, the evolution of its climate, and prepare for future human explorers. The return of the samples will also help NASA's search for signs of ancient life."

The current plan has an orbiter launching in 2027, a lander launching in 2028, and pristine Mars samples coming to Earth in 2033. Fingers crossed the new recommendations offer a way to meet those timelines.

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NASA's About to Make a Big Announcement About Mars. Here's What We Know. - ScienceAlert

NASA Is Asking for Help to Return Samples That Could Uncover Life on Mars – FLYING

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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has shared the space agencys revised path forward for the Mars Sample Return program, a proposed NASA-European Space Agency (ESA) mission to return Martian rock and soil samples to Earth. NASAs Perseverance rover has been collecting rock and soil samples on the Red Planet since 2021.

The agency is asking the NASA community, including its Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other agency centers, to collaborate on out-of-the-box designs, using existing technology, that could return the samples.

NASA on Monday released its response to a September 2023 Independent Review Board (IRB) report analyzing Mars Sample Return and its costs. It estimated the missions budget at $8 billion to $11 billion, with the high end of that range being more than double previous estimates of $4.4 billion.

Under those constraints, Nelson said, the mission would not return samples until 2040, which he said is unacceptable.

Mars Sample Return will be one of the most complex missions NASA has ever undertaken, said Nelson. The bottom line is, an $11 billion budget is too expensive, and a 2040 return date is too far away. Safely landing and collecting the samples, launching a rocket with the samples off another planetwhich has never been done beforeand safely transporting the samples more than 33 million miles back to Earth is no small task. We need to look outside the box to find a way ahead that is both affordable and returns samples in a reasonable timeframe.

Nelson also pointed to Congress recent budget cuts as a contributing factor in the agencys current challenges.

The agencys response to the IRB report includes an updated mission design with reduced complexity; improved resiliency; risk posture; [and] stronger accountability and coordination.

It said it will solicit proposals from the industry that could return samples in the 2030s, with responses expected in the fall. These alternative mission designs, NASA said, would reduce cost, risk, and mission complexity. It is unclear exactly what kind of solution the agency is seeking. But it emphasized leveraging existing technologies that do not require large amounts of time and money to develop.

Without more funding, according to NASA, Mars Sample Return could dip into money allocated for projects at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and other centers. Projects such as Dragonfly, a mission to Saturns largest moon, Titan, could be discontinued, warned Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASAs Science Mission Directorate.

Plans for a Mars sample return mission have been proposed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 2001. The samples are expected to help researchers understand the formation and evolution of the solar system and habitable worlds, including our own. They could be used to learn whether there was ancient life on Mars and aid in the search for life elsewhere in the universe.

NASAs Perseverance rover landed on Mars in 2021 and has been collecting samples since. Originally, the plan was to return them to Earth in 2033 using a rocket, orbiter, and lander. However, the IRB report found that the orbiter and lander likely would not leave the Earth until that year.

A Sample Retrieval Lander would deploy a small rocket to collect samples from Perseverance, using an ESA-provided robotic arm. Sample recovery helicoptersbased on the successful Ingenuity autonomous Mars helicopter and also capable of collecting sampleswould serve as backup.

A Mars Ascent Vehicle, which would be the first rocket to launch off the Mars surface, would carry samples to the planets orbit, where they would be captured by an Earth Return Orbitealso designed by ESAand brought back to Earth.

The initiative would be the first international, interplanetary mission to return samples from another planet and, according to NASA, would return the most carefully selected and well-documented set of samples ever delivered from another planet.

Earlier this year, the space agency marked the 20-year anniversary of its twin Spirit and Opportunity rovers arrival on the Martian surface, where they provided the first compelling evidence that the red planet once held water.

NASAs Curiosity rover is currently surveying a region of the planet thought to have been carved by a river billions of years ago. Its explorations could lead to further discoveries about life on Mars.

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NASA Is Asking for Help to Return Samples That Could Uncover Life on Mars - FLYING

JPL chief Laurie Leshin on science, Mars and budget infighting – SpaceNews

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The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is home base for building pioneering spacecraft that have probed every planet in our solar system, including the Sun.

Federally funded by NASA and managed by Caltech, JPL and its cadre of engineers and scientists are led by Laurie Leshin, the first woman to serve as JPL director, who took on the role in May 2022 following a career as a geochemist in academia and NASA.

Leshin points to space technology achievements, but has also been plagued by program setbacks and space budget woes, especially regarding the JPL-led Mars Sample Return project.

Leshin spoke with SpaceNews about JPLs path forward and steps to retain and bolster the revered laboratorys capabilities.

How do you characterize your concerns about NASAs overall budget and its impact on JPL?

There is good news for sure, such as the VERITAS Venus orbiter coming back and that were now re-planning and ramping back up. Most of the [NASA] science budget is fairly flat which, while not great, is not terrible. Planetary science, however, finds itself in a very, very difficult position. It is a fairly unprecedented threat to the nations deep space capability which is resident at JPL, so I have major concerns.

How impactful were Februarys budget-related layoffs on the labs future?

We hire only great people. So we will miss all those who were laid off. Were supporting them in every way we can think of through their transition. While it cut to depth, it did not eliminate any core capability. We worked very hard in spite of having to make the deep cuts and to make sure those capabilities were intact.

What is an example of a core capability at JPL?

Our nations Mars exploration capability is resident at the lab. No other organization has landed on Mars in the United States except us with partners always, but we have led every one of those missions. But if the budget challenges continue or decisions continue to be deferred, those capabilities will be at risk. I dont know how to say it other than that.

Our job as a nation is to have some hard conversations about what being spacefaring for the future really means. How do we make sure that theres Mars in our moon-to-Mars program? Theres no moon-to-Mars without Mars and theres no Mars without JPL.

Any other NASA budget concerns?

A science versus human spaceflight moment is not good for our community. We all need to pull together to support the diverse portfolio that NASA has. In tight budget times, we tend to fight with each other and that is always a bad idea.

JPL leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission. All on track for liftoff this October?

Europa Clipper just came out of JPLs thermal vacuum chamber. You shake it. You bake it. You look for magnetic cleanliness. End-to-end missions tests to simulate launch, solar array deployment, deep space cruise, orbit insertion at Jupiter, flybys of Europa. Weve done all of that. Were in really good shape. Were on track to ship it to Florida in the May timeframe and get it ready to fly on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy.

Theres another look looming at the costly and complex Mars Sample Return program. Whats coming?

I cant talk about it at this time. That review is coming relatively soon to be released in the spring. NASA has funding challenges. Its a really important set of decisions they are making. Mars Sample Return was the next big thing at JPL. So we need to make sure that gets back on track as quickly as possible.

So you see a way forward for Mars Sample Return?

Its a difficult moment. Theres a way to move forward with this mission that will cost less on an annual basis than the prior plan and its very much in line with what weve spent on other large missions. NASA has a chance to go down that path. I hope they will and then Ill breathe.

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JPL chief Laurie Leshin on science, Mars and budget infighting - SpaceNews