NASA can save the Mars Sample Return mission by going commercial
BY MARK R. WHITTINGTON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 08/06/23 10:00 AM ETNASA’s Mars Sample Return mission is starting to experience the kinds of cost overruns that have plagued previous high-profile space projects such as the Space Launch System and the James Webb Space Telescope. The situation is causing concern in Congress as budgets begin to tighten.
Ars Technica reported in June that the total cost of the Mars Sample Return has ballooned from $4.4 billion to the vicinity of $10 billion. Senate appropriators are not amused. They allocated $300 million to the Mars Sample Return, less than a third of the $949 million requested by the Biden administration, The senators also promised to rescind the $300 million, killing the project, unless NASA could promise that the overall cost would not exceed $5.3 billion. NASA has already spent more than $1 billion on the project, leaving $4 billion left to spend,
The Mars Sample Return mission is one of the most complex space missions ever attempted. According to the current schedule, a Sample Retrieval Lander would launch from Earth in 2028. It would carry two helicopters similar to the Ingenuity now operating in the skies over Mars and a small rocket. The Sample Return Lander would touch down near the Mars Perseverance rover that has been collecting samples and storing them for retrieval. The samples would be transferred to the rocket carried along by the Sample Return Lander along with more samples collected by the two helicopters. The rocket would fly into Mars orbit where it would meet and dock with a separate spacecraft and transfer the samples. The spacecraft would then fly back to Earth to arrive in the early to mid-2030s.
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https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/4137736-nasa-can-save-the-mars-sample-return-mission-by-going-commercial/
