The lander itself would feature a small rocket ... The estimated budget for the Mars Sample Return mission ballooned to $11 billion during 2024, and that, coupled with a return date of 2040 ...

Dozens of samples of rock and sediment collected from Mars that could be used to detect ancient microbial life could be returned to Earth as soon as 2035 and as late as 2039, depending on the course ...

to support the mission’s other vehicles. Following behind it would be an Earth Return Orbiter and Mars entry and descent system, housing a sample retrieval lander and Mars ascent vehicle (MAV).

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech There is a perception that NASA’s Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission is being delayed ... while a heavy lander would be needed for a large MAV. Support equipment for ...

NASA has been talking an awfully good game about its much-heralded Mars Sample Return (MSR) project. As long ago as 1978, the space agency requested funding to develop a mission that would see an ...

NASA’s Perseverance rover uncovers an ancient rock sample in Jezero Crater, possibly dating back billions of years.

Earlier this month, outgoing NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and other agency officials presented two possible plans for the mission, known as Mars Sample Return, for the incoming administration.

The European Space Agency (ESA) wants to develop key technologies for a Mars surface lander by the mid-2030s ... as the capability progresses." The mission aims for a high-precision landing ...

NASA is currently considering the best way to carry out its Mars Sample Return mission, which will attempt to bring to Earth all of the material gathered by Perseverance during the course of its ...

The agency will decide on a new strategy in 2026. China, meanwhile, is aiming to launch its own Mars sample return mission in 2028, which would potentially have samples back on Earth by 2031.

However, NASA has already identified a few problems with the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. To be precise, about 11 billion problems. An April 2024 review of the project by NASA determined that ...