NASA seeks faster, cheaper way to bring Mars samples to Earth
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s plan to bring samples from Mars back to Earth is on hold until there’s a faster, cheaper way, space agency officials said Monday.
Retrieving Mars soil and rocks has been on NASA’s to-do list for decades, but the date kept moving forward, as costs ballooned. A recent independent review put the total cost at $8 billion to $11 billion, with an arrival date of 2040, about a decade later than advertised.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that’s too much and too late. He’s asking private industry and the space agency’s centers to come up with other options to revamp the project. With NASA facing across-the-board budget cuts, he wants to avoid gutting other science projects to finance the Mars sample project.
“We want to get every new and fresh idea that we can,” he said at a news conference.
NASA’s rover Perseverance already has gathered 24 core samples in tubes since landing in 2021 at Mars’ Jezero Crater, an ancient river delta. The goal is more than 30 samples to scour for possible signs of ancient Martian life.
Related articles
- Jennifer Garner is twinning with her oldest child in their Sunday finest.The Golden Globe winner, 522024-05-08
- Contact Us HomeNewsHighlightACWF NewsSocietyWom2024-05-08
Tourism market makes robust recovery over holiday
Tourists feed black-headed gulls at Dianchi Lake in Kunming, Yunnan province, on Sunday. Destination2024-05-08Xi Urges Young Officials to Take on Historical Task on New Journey
Contact Us HomeNewsHighlightACWF NewsSocietyWom2024-05-08Liverpool get back on track with 4
Liverpool kept their slim title hopes alive with a 4-2 win at home to Tottenham on Sunday, which als2024-05-08Macao's electoral affairs commission for chief executive election takes office
Ho Iat Seng (5th R), chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR), poses for a2024-05-08
atest comment