“We were relatively vocal in MSR because we just saw a program and capability that could be solved,” Beck told Ars in a recent interview. “The cost estimates for the MSR and everything else were just nuts. I think everybody knows that I have a bit of a soft spot for planetary science. So with the MSR, I just saw a bunch of Nobel Prizes sitting there on the surface, and it was just a crime not to bring them home. As part of that, we learned all the telecommunications, all the telecommunications explained to us very clearly. The orbiter would be an important part of that.”
He’s not dead yet
Finally, as part of the budget process, the Trump White House and the US Congress, canceled the Mars Sample Return mission in January.
Only, maybe he’s not dead yet.
It was unanimously passed by the US Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in March the new NASA Authorization Act Requested restoration of Sample Return to Mars. According to the legislation, NASA will “establish a new Mars Sample Return program within the Science Mission Directorate to return scientifically selected samples from Mars to Earth.” According to the bill, the cost of this mission should not exceed 8 billion dollars.
Although this legislation did not fully pass the US Congress, we can glean some clues from it. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, chairs the committee that authored the bill, and he likely supports reviving the Mars Sample Return because it would bring new facilities and prestige to the Johnson Space Center in Texas. If Rocket Lab won the contract to build the Mars orbiter, it would have a leg up in the contracting process to develop the rest of the sample return mission. Testing of these vehicles, including the Mars Ascent Vehicle, may take place in Mississippi.
