Posted: September 21, 2023 8:17 pm ET | Last Updated: September 21, 2023 8:17 pm ET | A second Independent Review Board on the NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return mission concludes that the mission cannot be completed on the cost and schedule NASA advertises. The current design would cost $8-9.6 billion and alternatives could cost as much as $11 billion. Launches cannot take place until at least 2030. The IRB-2, chaired by Orlando Figueroa, also criticized how NASA is managing the program and communicating the importance of returning samples from the Red Planet.
Didn’t the latest stuff sent up there have the ability to analyze samples on the spot? Why do they want to send samples back?
I suspect a full-scale lab is a little more capable than a pocket lab bolted on a rover
I think a real key will be getting geologists on the ground there. The productivity comparison is something crazy, like, an astronaut could do a few years of rover work in a week.
Wow, a bigger gap than I would have guessed.