NASA's Troubled Mars Sample Mission Has Scientists Seeing Red

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January 11, 2024

This week, we're talking about the most audacious interplanetary mission that you may have never heard of. It's called Mars Sample Return (MSR), and it's not really one mission, but several—all carefully choreographed by NASA and the European Space Agency with the goal of bringing specimens gathered by the Perseverance Mars rover back to Earth in the early 2030s. If life has ever arisen on Mars, MSR may be our best chance to find it anytime soon. But the program is in trouble, facing potentially ruinous projected budget overruns and schedule slips. Our lead story explains the situation, what's at stake, and how—or whether—MSR might be saved. Elsewhere this week, we're covering an unfortunate shortfall for a private U.S. lunar mission, a calendar of sky events to watch in 2024, a podcast in praise of Earth's moon, the remarkably similar hues of Uranus and Neptune, and more. Enjoy!

Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Space & Physics @LeeBillings

Planetary Science NASA's Troubled Mars Sample Mission Has Scientists Seeing Red NASA's Mars Sample Return program is the agency's highest priority in planetary science, but projected multibillion-dollar overruns have some calling the plan a "dumpster fire" By Leonard David

Space Exploration Private U.S. Lunar Lander Suffers 'Critical' Anomaly after Launch Astrobotic's Peregrine lander was meant to be the first commercial spacecraft to operate on the surface of the moon. Instead it may not reach lunar orbit at all By Michael Greshko

Astronomy Sky Spectacles to Watch in 2024 Here's a calendar of cosmic events to keep your eyes on in the coming year By Phil Plait

Planetary Science Uranus and Neptune Have Similar Hues, New Study Shows A new analysis finds that images from Voyager 2's close encounter with Neptune show the planet as being far too blue By Sharmila Kuthunur,SPACE.com

Astronomy Without the Moon, Human Society Might Not Exist The moon helps us keep time, inspires religions and shapes science, yet it still keeps secrets from us. By Clara Moskowitz,Jeffery DelViscio | 13:54

Mathematics Simple Math Creates Infinite and Bizarre Automorphic Numbers Squaring numbers can have surprising consequences By Manon Bischoff

Astrophysics The Language of Astronomy Is Needlessly Violent and Inaccurate Astronomy is beautiful and elegant. The language we use to describe its processes is anything but By Juan P. Madrid

QUOTE OF THE DAY "I honestly don't understand how we can talk about sending humans to Mars to do science if a pathfinding mission like [Mars Sample Return] is deemed too ambitious or too costly." Victoria Hamilton, a planetary geologist at the Southwest Research Institute and chair of the NASA-advising Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group, on the value of the space agency's Mars Sample Return program for planning crewed missions to Mars

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