On Tuesday, January 7, at 20:00 Kyiv time, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and his deputy Nicky Fox will provide updated information on the Mars Sample Return program, which has encountered serious difficulties, writes ScienceAlert.

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NASA management must make an important statement at a press conference regarding the state of preparations for the implementation of one of the most important space programs. The Mars Sample Return program was created to return to Earth valuable samples of Martian rock collected by the Perseverance rover over several years..

According to NASA, the space agency's leaders should talk about how they plan to reduce the cost of delivering samples from Mars to Earth and what the architecture of a future mission to the Red Planet will be..

Since 2021, the Perseverance rover has managed to collect several dozen valuable samples of rock on Mars, as well as the atmosphere of the Red Planet. These samples are now on the surface of Mars inside special titanium tubes, awaiting collection and delivery to Earth.. These samples should help scientists understand the geological history of Mars, the evolution of the planet's climate, and also find out whether there was life there..

In 2023, the future of the Mars Sample Return program was in jeopardy when an independent review found that NASA had unrealistic expectations for the program's budget and schedule.. It was assumed that the samples would be delivered to Earth in the early 2030s. But the assessment showed that this will not be possible until at least 2040.

It also became known that the program budget from the initial $3 billion grew to $11 billion, that is, the program turned out to be too expensive and required budget cuts. In 2024, NASA's budget was cut, resulting in lower costs for preparing the Mars Sample Return program..

This caused alarm among scientists who were concerned that one of the most important space missions could not be realized and samples collected on Mars would remain on the surface of the planet. In April 2024, Nelson announced that the Mars Sample Return program would not be canceled, but that ways would need to be found to reduce its budget and still try to implement it much earlier than 2040.. Last October, NASA created an expert group that was supposed to conduct a new assessment of the Mars program and provide a report. It is likely that the findings of this report will be presented during a press conference.

NASA has another reason to worry. The fact is that China is going to launch its mission to Mars in 2028 to collect samples of local rock. And the delivery of these samples to Earth is planned for 2031. If NASA fails to solve the problems with its Mars program, and China is able to implement its plans, then the United States will lose this space race to China. The fact is that samples of local stones and soil have never been delivered from Mars to Earth..

The Mars Sample Return program has difficulties not only with budget, but also with the mission architecture itself. Initially, it was planned to carry out several launches into space to deliver several spacecraft into orbit around Mars, as well as to the surface of the planet.

With their help, it was planned to assemble titanium tubes with samples and load them into a special rocket that would send the samples into orbit. There they should be picked up by a spacecraft that will take them to Earth. Perhaps NASA leaders will provide a new vision for the architecture of this mission.

As Focus already wrote, Elon Musk is trying to cancel NASA’s lunar program. The American billionaire believes that all efforts should be directed towards a flight to Mars, not to the Moon..

Focus also wrote that a new study of the Universe hints at the existence of unknown physics.