Trouble in Space: Soaring costs of NASA’s Mars Sample Return Mission risks other projects

NASA’s ambitious Mars Sample Return mission, which is one of the most complex space endeavours, is in jeopardy.

As per a report in The Guardian, the space mission faces soaring costs that threaten a budget crisis for the space agency.

The Mars Sample Return mission aims to collect rock samples from Mars using unmanned probes and robot rovers, which will be sent back to Earth for analysis to search for signs of life. The mission involves the first-ever space launch from another planet and the first-ever rendezvous in orbit around another planet. 

It relies on the robot rover Perseverance, which is already on Mars collecting rock samples. These samples will be stored in titanium tubes and, in a few years, a lander will be sent to Mars to collect the tubes and place them in orbit around Mars. 

An Earth return orbiter, built by the European Space Agency, will then ferry the samples back to Earth.

An independent review panel, set up by NASA, found that the mission’s budget expectations were “unrealistic”. It warned that the mission, whose costs were originally estimated at $4.4 billion, is likely to rise to $8-11 billion. 

This, it said, could put other NASA missions at risk of cancellation.

“There is currently no credible, congruent technical, nor properly margined schedule, cost and technical baselines that can be accomplished with the likely available funding,” said the panel’s report.  

It concluded that there is “near zero probability” of NASA’s plan succeeding on its current budget.

The rising costs have already led to the postponement of other NASA-funded projects, including the Veritas mission to study Venus and the Geospace Dynamics Constellation mission to study the upper atmosphere.

“You are cutting the artery, the lifeblood of our science,” said plasma physicist Allison Jaynes of Iowa University while talking to the journal Science.

Scientists and experts express concerns about the impact on NASA’s overall scientific endeavours.

“All of NASA science is taking a hit because of the Mars Sample Return burden,” she added.

Challenges, including underestimating the size of the spacecraft needed to take samples off Mars, complexities in preventing contamination, and supply shortages, have contributed to the cost escalation, reports The Guardian. 

Furthermore, the mission also failed to take into consideration the steps that would need to be undertaken to prevent Earth bacteria and viruses from contaminating soil samples from Mars. It didn’t account for Martian lifeforms infecting our planet. 

While some leading scientists have called for the mission’s cancellation, others emphasise its transformative potential. Despite the budget crisis, supporters argue that the mission’s scientific significance warrants its continuation.

(With inputs from agencies)