NASA asks: Can anyone help us get our Mars samples back?
With its plan to return samples from Mars in jeopardy, NASA is now making a desperate plea for outside help to save the costly and complex mission.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson and the agency's head of science, Nikki Fox, announced Monday they will seek suggestions from the greater space industry with a formal request for ideas. The agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which has been overseeing the mission from California, has already laid off about 530 employees — about 8 percent of its workforce — and 40 contractors in the face of budget constraints.
NASA will solicit new concept proposals for the mission that could reduce spending and hasten the timeline. The agency is also asking other NASA campuses to weigh in. By the fall, they hope to have some new ideas to consider.
When asked what happens if there aren't any practical solutions, administrator Bill Nelson quipped, "Better than not to try."
"I suspect if folks at NASA and our contractors and our centers and JPL put their minds to it, these are folks who can figure out rather difficult things," he said during a call with reporters.
SEE ALSO:The surprising reason a Mars rover just started dropping samplesThe Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which has been overseeing the mission from California, has already laid off about 530 employees — about 8 percent of its workforce — and 40 contractors in the face of budget constraints. Credit: NASA / JPL-CaltechMars Sample Return, a complex mission to bring rocks and dirt back from the Red Planet, has been at a crossroads since last year. The mission's swelling costs have led to layoffs and warnings of cancellation from Congress.
Independent reviews have found that the mission would likely cost upward of $11 billion to achieve by the 2030s — or would require delays that would set back the return to at least 2040. That spending projection is more than 50 percent higher than a range recommended by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
But the nonpartisan Planetary Society has said the program is too important for NASA to scrap.
"Do the science, do it now, and do it with balance," wrote Casey Dreier, the group's senior space policy adviser.
Tweet may have been deleted
NASA's Perseverance rover, a car-size lab on six wheels, has been collecting samples from the Jezero crater since 2021 with the hope they can be returned to Earth for scientific scrutiny.
Over the course of its exploration, Perseverance has been drilling into rocks and filling pairs of sample tubes so that each has a backup supply. The plan has been for the rover to eventually deliver the samples to a robotic lander equipped with a rocket to bring them back for study.
Related Stories
- The surprising reason a Mars rover just started dropping samples
- NASA rover finds clear evidence of ancient waves, yes waves, on Mars
- How Mars rovers could explore vast uncharted caves
- An enormous Martian cloud returns every spring. Scientists found out why.
- NASA discovered bacteria that wouldn't die. Now it's boosting sunscreen.
"Better than not to try."Plan B for recovering the Mars backup samples has been to use drones to take them to a lander.Credit: NASA illustration
If Perseverance couldn't make the transfers, Plan B would involve recovering the duplicate tubes from the ground where the rover is intentionally dropping them. In that scenario, drones similar to the recently deceased Ingenuity helicopter would pick them up and fly them to a lander.
Once the 30-or-so sample tubes had left Mars on the rocket, another spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet would bring them some 140 million miles back to Earth, according to the original plan. (With both planets constantly moving, their exact distance is always changing.)
The plan has been for the rover to deliver the samples to a robotic lander equipped with a rocket at a later time to bring them back to study.Credit: NASA / JPL-CaltechNASA sent Perseverance to the crater because it's a place where planetary scientists think microscopic organisms — a.k.a. life — might have potentially existed long ago. The region is thought to be a dried delta, where water once emptied from a river into a lake. The remaining rocks may contain relics or clues about ancient life forms, if there ever were any.
The mission, a partnership with the European Space Agency, would not only include the first attempt to bring back dust and dirt from another full-fledged planet but also the first launch from the surface of another planet. Recovering the samples would fulfill one of the highest priorities of the scientific community for the next decade.
"This is not just a grab-a-rock mission," Fox said. "These are very carefully, scientifically curated, and selected samples [from] a very diverse set of locations."
相关文章
Alcaraz vs. Van de Zandschulp 2024 livestream: Watch US Open for free
TL;DR:Live stream Alcaraz vs. Van de Zandschulp in the 2024 US Open for free on 9Now or TVNZ+. Acces2024-09-21Björk wants you to stop Instagramming and go to the forest
If Björk sings in the forest and no one's there to Instagram it, well, everything's going great2024-09-21- 市区街头,到处充满过年的喜庆气氛市区雅州廊桥新增的金牛雕塑,成为许多市民留影的好去处春节期间,市区雅州廊桥的书画展吸引了市民驻足欣赏市区到处弥漫着浓厚的年味,许多售卖年货的小摊生意不错17日,腊月二十2024-09-21
Man posts incredibly dumb maths 'problem' and Twitter descends into chaos
Some men just want to watch the world burn.When twitter user @SandalShagger (yes, really) posted a n2024-09-21Nvidia GeForce Now Ultimate vs. New Graphics Card
Video games are getting prettier. But the price that comes with more realistic graphics, ray tracing2024-09-21- 环卫工人李成跃连续9年在岗位“试想,如果没有环卫工人起早贪黑地付出,整个城市脏乱差,谁还有好心情过年?”春节期间,市区的大街小巷人头攒动。随着回家的人增多,我市市区逐渐热闹起来,街上的人流量也随之增大2024-09-21
最新评论