Costs are rising for Mars Sample Return.
The planned mission has great scientific promise: The Martian rock and soil to be collected should provide unprecedented insight into the Red Planet’s geological history and could even reveal evidence of past life. But the price is steep. NASA is poised to spend well over $5 billion on MSR, and the mission is starting to pull funding from other efforts.
Some members of the science community have been asking probing questions about MSR, despite NASA leaders’ calls for unity. And now, the criticisms are making their way to Congress.
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