NASA has been talking an awfully good game about its much-heralded Mars Sample Return (MSR) project. As long ago as 1978, the space agency requested funding to develop a mission that would see an ...

The Mars Sample Return ... mission will cost a staggering $11 billion, and it will extend well into the 2040, about a decade later than the most optimistic estimates. Learning this, NASA decided ...

It also pushed the expected sample return between 2031 and 2040, a delay considered ... Nicky Fox, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, explained, “We are exploring ...

Anyone hoping for a clear path forward this year for NASA’s imperiled Mars Sample Return ... at least 2040. “That was just simply unacceptable,” said Nelson, who paused the mission in ...

The Perseverance Mars rover has collected a rock sample ... mission complexity. After cost projections rose to $11 billion and the sample return timeline was extended to no earlier than 2040, NASA ...

In this photo provided by NASA, the sample return capsule from NASA's Osiris ... said the University of Arizona’s Dante Lauretta, the mission’s chief scientist who took part in both studies.

Until NASA completes the sample return, we will not know what secrets ... The anticipated price rise was expected to postpone the mission to 2040, but the agency has announced a programme review.

(AP) — Asteroid samples fetched by NASA hold not only ... as well as more asteroid and comet sample returns. China plans to launch an asteroid sample return mission this year.

However, NASA has already identified a few problems with the Mars Sample Return ... of the mission out past even the "unacceptably too long" original target date of 2040. With that in mind ...