NASA defers decision on Mars Sample Return to the Trump administration
NASA defers decision on Mars Sample Return to the Trump administration
“We want to have the quickest, cheapest way to get these 30 samples back.”…
These tubes might contain tantalizing clues about past life on Mars, but NASA's ever-changing plans to bring them back to Earth are still unclear.
On Tuesday, NASA officials presented two options for retrieving and returning the samples gathered by the Perseverance rover. One alternative involves a conventional architecture reminiscent of past NASA Mars missions, relying on the "sky crane" landing system demonstrated on the agency's two most recent Mars rovers. The other option would be to outsource the lander to the space industry.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson left a final decision on a new mission architecture to the next NASA administrator working under the incoming Trump administration. President-elect Donald Trump nominated entrepreneur and commercial astronaut Jared Isaacman as the agency's 15th administrator last month.
It's stupid to send a mission there just to pick up samples. Just wait for the next rover or lander test mission and then send that to land closer to the samples and pluck them up on the way back. They're not going anywhere.
Hmm hard to say what happens next.