WASHINGTON – NASA is working on a pair of Mars sampling return missions, although some in the planetary science community are concerned about how the cost of these efforts will affect other projects.
NASA announced on December 17 that it had approved the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program to move into the development phase by working on the initial design of missions and key technologies. That mission includes a sample return lander, which will be developed by NASA with a rover provided by the European Space Agency, and an ESA-led orbit with a sample collection system provided by NASA.
Under current plans, both the lender and the orbiter will start in 2026. The lander will get closer to the landing site of the Mars 2020 mission, and with a French rover retrieving samples caught by that mission. Can also deliver samples to Mars 2020 Rover, PersonaVirens, Lander. Those samples will be placed in a container on a small rocket on the lander and they will be placed in orbit around Mars. The orbiter will then collect the sample container and return it to Earth in 2031.
The decision to proceed with the MSR phase comes after the November 10 release, which evaluates the status and feasibility of the proposed mission following the report of the Independent Review Board (IRB). That review was widely supported with the MSR program.
“We unanimously believe that the Mars Sample Return program should move forward,” David Thomps, former chief executive of Orbital ATK and chairman of the board, told a media teleconference about the report. “We think its scientific value will be extraordinarily high.”
NASA said in its December 17 announcement that the phase entry was also endorsed by a separate standing review board for MSR. “The work of shaping the phase is an important step for our team, though one of the few to come,” Bobby said. In the statement, Brown, MSR program manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “These reviews furthered our plan and signaled the creation of a tangible approach for MSRs built on NASA centers, our ESA partners and the industry’s exceptional capabilities.”
However, the independent review also raised questions about the cost and timing of the MSR. It recommended delaying the opening of the lender to 2028 and the orbiter to 2027 or 2028. Thompson said the schedule for the two missions was “decided by the IRB not to be consistent with NASA’s recent experience.”
The review also concluded that the mission would cost more than NASA estimates. While NASA has estimated agency costs of માટે 2.9–3.3 billion for those phases of the MSR, the IRB has found that the actual actual cost estimates are 3. 3.8–4.4 billion. That estimate does not include Mars 2020, which will cost NASA $ 2.7 billion during its first mid-year operation, and the expected contribution of 1.5 billion euros (8 1.85 billion) from the ESA.
The cost of MSR is a concern for some planetary scientists, who are concerned about the impact on NASA’s rest of the planetary science portfolio. This includes the ability to launch any large-scale mission recommended by NASA’s ongoing Planetary Science Decimal Survey, which will release its final report in early 2022.
“This is a very important topic,” said Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Department of Planetary Science, during a December 14 meeting at the townhall. A participant on the effect of MSR on the overall planetary program. “I certainly recognize and understand that it is important that we maintain a balance in the portfolio and continue to fund us to support other missions in the solar system.”
He added, “We will rely heavily on this critical survey to help us determine what those priorities are and to provide us with that programmatic balance across all the various flight missions.”
The ongoing decimal survey, however, will not prioritize MSR over other proposed flagship-class planetary science missions. The previous decadal survey, published in 2011, was to cache a Mars rover sample as its top priority flagship mission, which became Mars 2020.
David Smith, director of studies for the Planetary Science Decimal Survey at National Academies, said during a townhall on December 4 about the study of the AGU Fall Meeting that “special language” in the terms of the survey meant that MSR would not come again. Sponsored in a new study. “But we are encouraged to comment on NASA’s current plans for the implementation of the second and third phases of the Mars sampling return mission.”
That approach, he said, is similar to critical surveys of other science subjects, such as astrophysics, which worked with a high-ranking mission in one study, but did not fly until the next study was ongoing. “The sponsor, NASA, in a sense, doesn’t want to upset the apple cart, but makes a little comment about whether they’re moving in the right direction.”
In the case of MSR, Smith said the Deckdale survey requested for budget information about the program as well as representations in the IRB report. That presentation was made at a meeting of the survey’s steering committee on December 16.
