Nasa to overhaul mission returning samples from Mars – here’s why it must and will go ahead

• This has led to some anxiety among space scientists, who view the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission as a cornerstone of plans to explore the Solar System.
• But when you consider what’s at stake, scientifically and politically, it seems highly likely that Nasa will push ahead with the mission to make it a success.
• One key conclusion of the Nasa review is that MSR was established with unrealistic budget and schedules.
• Esa is also unlikely to want to lose the scientific investment it has already made in MSR.

Huge scientific importance

So why does the space science community regard MSR as so important? Partly because the technologies are a stepping stone to future human exploration. For instance, the mission needs an ascent vehicle to launch the samples into orbit for capture by another spacecraft.

• That capture in Mars orbit of a football-sized return capsule is one of the key technical challenges of MSR.
• Esa is taking a major part in this and leads the return orbiter development.
• This stage will deploy the very best equipment that we scientists have in laboratories across the world.
• But these financial savings come with a scientific cost.

Chinese rivalry

• The Apollo programme was given impetus by cold war rivalry with the Soviet Union.
• The Chinese Space Agency wants to launch in 2028, with separate lander and ascent vehicle launches.
• In 2020, I argued that an era of new Chinese collaboration with the west could be possible.

John Bridges receives funding from the UK Space Agency for NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return planning groups tasked with identifying the best techniques to analyse returned samples, and the closest terrestrial analogues for these samples.