NASA has big goals for Mars. It wants to collect the first-ever samples from the Martian surface and deliver them back to Earth in an ambitious mission called Mars Sample Return. But even in its development phase, the mission has run into problems. With a ballooning budget and unrealistic time frame, NASA decided last year that it needed a new approach to the mission, and now it has announced an update. It’s working on two ideas, with the best to be chosen in 2026.
“Pursuing two potential paths forward will ensure that NASA is able to bring these samples back from Mars with significant cost and schedule saving compared to the previous plan,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “These samples have the potential to change the way we understand Mars, our universe, and – ultimately – ourselves. I’d like to thank the team at NASA and the strategic review team, led by Dr. Maria Zuber, for their work.”
Getting a sample back from Mars is exceedingly tricky. Although the Perseverance rover has already collected and sealed a bunch of samples and left them at a depot on the Martian surface, getting them back to Earth will require a difficult series of maneuvers, including some things that have never been attempted before, such as launching a rocket from the surface of another planet.
That means that the lander for the mission will have to carry a significant amount of mass, and landing a large mass on Mars is tricky because the thin atmosphere doesn’t provide much resistance for parachutes. One approach NASA is considering for the landing portion of the mission is to use a system similar to that used for landing the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, called a sky crane. The other option is to use a commercially developed lander, looking to companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin to develop their own ideas.
In either case, the mission’s launch vehicle, called the Mars Ascent Vehicle, will have to be smaller than previously planned. It will also use a nuclear power system instead of solar panels, which should simplify its operation even in dusty conditions.
“NASA’s rovers are enduring Mars’ harsh environment to collect ground-breaking science samples,” said Nicky Fox, who leads NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “We want to bring those back as quickly as possible to study them in state-of-the-art facilities. Mars Sample Return will allow scientists to understand the planet’s geological history and the evolution of climate on this barren planet where life may have existed in the past and shed light on the early solar system before life began here on Earth. This will also prepare us to safely send the first human explorers to Mars.”
After 13 suborbital test flights and more than $15 billion in development costs, SpaceX's Starship has finally reached orbit. The 407-foot megarocket, the most powerful ever built, lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on Monday and delivered its first real payload on it's 14th attempt. The celebration came with an asterisk, though, since SpaceX had to cut the planned 10-hour mission to roughly three hours.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/2104601695711904180
SpaceX is finally ready to give Starship its biggest test yet. The company says the massive rocket's 14th test flight is scheduled for September 22, when it will attempt to put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time. The launch is currently pending regulatory approval, with a 75-minute window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT.
Starship has 26 Starlink satellites to deliver
For decades, humanity has looked up at the Moon and wondered what it would be like to live on it. Think sprawling cities, factories, research centers, and permanent human settlements. Unfortunately, there is one fairly fundamental problem with that vision.
A new study published in Frontiers in Space Technologies argues that even the Moon's potentially enormous reserves of frozen water may be nowhere near enough to support city-sized populations sustainably. Researchers Martin Elvis and Jonathan McDowell estimate that the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles could contain roughly one billion tons of water. It sounds like an extraordinary amount until you put a million thirsty humans next to it.