By 
September 22nd, 2023
NASA has released an Independent Review Board (IRB) report looking into the space agency’s current plans and goals for the first mission to return samples from Mars – a cooperative endeavor with the European Space Agency.
The IRB has expressed concerns over the mission’s budget, among other areas. After a two-month evaluation, they provided the agency a report with 20 findings and 59 recommendations.
NASA accepts the overall conclusion of the MSR IRB that the Mars Sample Return mission must be reexamined.
Concept art depicts a Mars menagerie of machines that would team to transport to Earth samples of rocks, soil, and atmosphere being collected from the Martian surface by NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Key takeaways
A number of “key takeaways” from the IRB report include:
1)
The strategic and high scientific value of Mars Sample Return (MSR) is not being communicated appropriately.
2)
MSR was established with unrealistic budget and schedule expectations from the beginning. MSR was also organized under an unwieldy structure. As a result, there is currently no credible, congruent technical, nor properly margined schedule, cost, and technical baseline that can be accomplished with the likely available funding.
3)
Technical issues, risks, and performance-to-date indicate a near zero probability of key MSR elements to meet the 2027/2028 launch readiness dates.
Departure of Mars Ascent Vehicle carrying Mars samples.
Credit: NASA
4)
A 2030 Launch Readiness Date for both the Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL) and the Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) is estimated to require roughly $8.0-$9.6 billion dollars, with funding in excess of $1 billion per year to be required for three or more years starting in 2025.
5)
The projected overall budget for MSR in the FY24 President’s Budget Request is not adequate to accomplish the current program of record.
6)
The lack of a well-defined Orbiting Sample design continues to impact and constrain many MSR systems, with implications that affect UltraViolet (UV) decontamination and robust containment for backward planetary protection.
NASA Mars 2020 rover is designed to collect samples, store the specimens in tubes, then deposit the tubes on the surface for later pick-up.
Credit: NASA/ESA
China plans
The IRB also noted that China is planning to return Mars samples on a similar timetable as the projected Mars Sample Return effort, “but lack similar scientific rigor.” The Mars Sample Return as envisioned by NASA “will bring back carefully-selected samples that the international Mars science community has deemed are of the greatest value.
To access the full report and its findings, go to:
Posted in Space News
Considering all the negatives with funding and issues involving the questionable technology of a direct to Earth MSR not to mention the possibility of biological back contamination which could impact Earth’s biosphere, now would be a great time to rethink the search for life on Mars by sending a number of dedicated rovers to different regions on Mars equipped with extant life detection instruments to settle the issue of extant life on Mars once and for all. Up to this point, all we have is the data returned by the Viking Lander biology experiments that have left the mystery of how the Viking Labeled Release experiment found evidence of microbial metabolism at two sites on Mars separated by 4500 miles while the Viking Lander GCMS organic analysis instrument found no evidence of organic molecules on Mars to the part per billion level.
We now know that both the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers have found organics in the soil, dust, rocks and atmosphere of Mars that indicate the Viking GCMS data should now be considered invalid. This leaves the question of what the Labeled Release experiment found in 1976 wide open. Let’s go back to Mars with updated extant life detection instruments and find out.
Barry E. DiGregorio – Director for the International Committee Against Mars Sample Return http://www.icamsr.org