NASA Revamps Mars Sample Return Plan

The mission to bring Martian soil and rocks back to Earth has hit a major financial wall, forcing NASA to scrap its original timeline and budget. In a significant shift announced in 2024, the space agency is pivoting toward the private sector to save the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. Facing a potential price tag of $11 billion and a delay until 2040, NASA is now calling on commercial aerospace leaders to find a faster, cheaper solution.

The 11-Billion Dollar Roadblock

For years, the Mars Sample Return mission was designed as a complex, multi-vehicle collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). The original architecture required multiple launches, a retrieval lander, a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), and an orbiter to catch the sample capsule and return it to Earth.

However, an Independent Review Board (IRB) assessment released in late 2023 sent shockwaves through the agency. The report concluded that the program was too complex and the budget expectations were unrealistic.

  • Cost Blowout: The estimated cost ballooned to between \(8 billion and \)11 billion.
  • Timeline Delays: The return date for the samples slipped from the early 2030s to 2040.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson addressed the press in April 2024, stating bluntly that the $11 billion price tag was unsustainable and the 2040 return date was “unacceptable.” With NASA facing broader budget constraints for fiscal years 2024 and 2025, continuing on the current path would have cannibalized funding for other critical science missions, such as the Dragonfly mission to Titan or the VERITAS mission to Venus.

Enter the Commercial Sector: The New Plan

To salvage the mission, NASA initiated a “Rapid Mission Design Studies” program. The goal is straightforward but technically demanding: retrieve the samples currently held by the Perseverance rover and get them back to Earth before 2040 at a significantly lower cost.

In June 2024, NASA awarded fixed-price contracts of up to $1.5 million each to seven distinct companies. These companies have been tasked with conducting 90-day studies to propose alternative architectures. The agency is essentially asking the private sector, “Can you do this cheaper and faster than we can?”

The Seven Contenders

NASA selected a mix of traditional aerospace giants and agile “New Space” companies to provide these studies. The companies currently developing proposals include:

  1. SpaceX: Likely leveraging its massive Starship rocket, which offers high payload capacity that could simplify the mission architecture by reducing the number of necessary launches or intricate orbital rendezvous maneuvers.
  2. Blue Origin: Jeff Bezos’s space company, which is developing the Blue Moon lander and New Glenn rocket.
  3. Lockheed Martin: A long-time NASA partner with extensive experience in Mars orbiters and landers (such as InSight and Odyssey).
  4. Northrop Grumman: Another defense and aerospace heavyweight known for propulsion systems and satellite technology.
  5. Aerojet Rocketdyne: Specialists in rocket propulsion, specifically the engines needed to lift a sample off the Martian surface.
  6. Quantum Space: A newer player focusing on cislunar infrastructure, bringing a different perspective on logistics and transport.
  7. Whittinghill Aerospace: A smaller, specialized firm known for propulsion and launch systems.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins are also conducting their own internal studies to see if the existing architecture can be stripped down and simplified.

What Is at Stake in Jezero Crater?

The urgency of this mission stems from the cargo waiting on Mars. Since landing in February 2021, the Perseverance rover has been traversing Jezero Crater, an ancient lakebed considered one of the best places to look for signs of past microbial life.

The rover has already collected over 20 unique core samples. These include:

  • Sedimentary Rocks: These are crucial for studying the history of water on Mars.
  • Igneous Rocks: These help scientists date the surface and understand volcanic history.
  • Regolith and Atmosphere: Samples of loose soil and Martian air.

Perseverance has been sealing these samples in titanium tubes. It carries some inside its belly, but it has also created a “depot” at a location called Three Forks, where it dropped 10 tubes on the ground as a backup cache. The retrieval mission must be able to land near the rover (or the depot), load these tubes into a rocket, and launch them into Mars orbit.

Complexity of the "Mars Ascent"

The most difficult technical hurdle remains the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV). To date, humanity has never launched a rocket from the surface of another planet.

The commercial partners must solve the physics of lifting a payload off Mars, where the gravity is 38% of Earth’s and the atmosphere is thin. The original plan involved a small, solid-fuel rocket developed by NASA and Lockheed Martin. The new studies will determine if that design should be kept, modified, or replaced entirely by a commercial solution.

For example, a company like SpaceX might propose using a modified version of Starship to land, pick up the samples, and return directly to Earth, potentially skipping the complex “hand-off” to an orbiter entirely. However, landing such a massive vehicle on Mars and refueling it for a return trip presents its own massive engineering challenges.

Timeline for the Decision

NASA expects the 90-day studies from the seven commercial partners to conclude in late 2024. Following the submission of these proposals, NASA leadership will evaluate the options.

The agency aims to select a primary path forward by early 2025. If a commercial partner can demonstrate a viable plan to return the samples in the 2030s for a cost closer to \(5 billion to \)7 billion, NASA will likely shift the MSR program from a government-led architecture to a service-contract model, similar to how it currently buys seats on Crew Dragon for flights to the International Space Station.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the Mars Sample Return mission so expensive? The mission requires multiple spacecraft to work perfectly in sequence: a lander to get to Mars, a rover to fetch tubes, a rocket to launch from Mars (which has never been done), and an orbiter to catch the samples and fly them back to Earth. The complexity drives the cost.

When will the Mars rocks arrive on Earth? Under the original canceled plan, they were not expected until 2040. NASA is now targeting a return date in the early-to-mid 2030s using new commercial methods.

Why can’t the Perseverance rover just bring them back? Perseverance is a nuclear-powered robotic lab, but it does not have a rocket engine or wings. It is designed to stay on Mars forever. It cannot leave the surface.

What happens if the samples contain dangerous bacteria? This is a primary safety concern dubbed “backward contamination.” The samples will be enclosed in multiple sealed containers and, upon arrival, will be transported immediately to a Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) facility—the highest level of containment used for the most dangerous pathogens on Earth—until they are proven safe.