/sci/ - Science & Math

>>15761455
https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/09/independent-review-finds-mars-sample-return-mission-important-but-broken/

> "MSR is a deep-space exploration priority for NASA," the report states. "However, 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."

> The findings of the independent review, led by Orlando Figueroa, a retired deputy center director for science and technology at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, echo a report published by Ars Technica about three months ago raising serious questions about costs and schedule. The concern expressed by some scientists, including former NASA science chief Thomas Zurbuchen, was that the ballooning cost of Mars Sample Return would cannibalize funding from other science missions.

> The report says that NASA must do a better job of engaging with the planetary science community to explain its prioritization of the mission and its status as the culmination of a decades-long Mars exploration strategy. Moreover, the reviewers said canceling Mars Sample Return would *not* free up billions of dollars for other planetary science missions.

> "A particular and understandable concern from the community is the impact that MSR may have on the rest of the Planetary Science Division," the report states. "NASA must address this concern while clarifying and dispelling the notion that cancelling MSR necessarily means greater budgets for everybody else in the Planetary Science Division or even the Mars Exploration Program. Cancellation may also call into question the feasibility of other ambitious sample return efforts envisioned by the planetary science community."