The current Mars sample return plan would cause NASA to take funds from other planned missions. The space agency is seeking an alternate plan for getting Mars samples back in the 2030s and for less than $7 billion.
NASA is rethinking how to bring samples from Mars back to Earth after a review found that current budget constraints would delay the Mars sample return mission to 2040 and cost more than $11 billion. NASA 's Mars rover, Perseverance, has been collecting samples on the Red Planet that were to be collected by a later mission and brought back to Earth for analysis. NASA and the European Space Agency had an elaborate plan to bring the first samples from Mars back to Earth.
Under the current plan, Nelson said the Mars sample return mission budget would "cannibalize" from other science missions, including to Saturn's moon Titan and two missions to Venus. Nelson said NASA was put in this position because of the budget cuts set by Congress for Fiscal Year 2024. "I'm expecting to get everybody in high gear, and we have the answers to this by this fall," Nelson said.
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