NASA eyes SpaceX, Blue Origin to cut Mars rock retrieval costs

NASA announced on Tuesday that it may collaborate with Elon Musk's SpaceX or Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin to address the rising costs of returning Martian rocks collected by the Perseverance rover. Originally set to deliver 30 sample tubes to Earth by the 2030s, the Mars Sample Return mission has encountered escalating expenses and delays, prompting the agency to seek more efficient solutions.

This shift comes as China advances toward a simpler "grab-and-go" sample return mission to Mars, anticipated around 2028, which could make it the first nation to achieve such a feat, according to state media.

Outgoing NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated that the agency is considering two potential designs for landing a robotic platform on Mars, with a final decision expected by mid-2026. The first option involves NASA's established Sky Crane system, a robotic jetpack that successfully lowered the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers onto the Martian surface in 2012 and 2021. The second option includes a "heavy lift lander" developed by a commercial partner to deliver the necessary hardware.

"You all know that SpaceX and Blue Origin have expressed interest, but there could be others as well," Nelson remarked.

In both scenarios, the lander would carry a compact Mars Ascent Vehicle, a lightweight rocket designed to launch samples into Mars orbit. There, the Earth Return Orbiter, being developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), would intercept the payload for its journey back to Earth. NASA is also revising its power strategy for the lander, opting for a nuclear battery instead of solar panels, which are susceptible to Mars's dust storms.

With the Sky Crane option, NASA estimates costs could range from $6.6 billion to $7.7 billion—significantly lower than the $11 billion projected under the original plan, according to an independent audit. Partnering with commercial providers could further reduce costs to between $5.8 billion and $7.1 billion, with a return expected between 2035 and 2039, compared to 2040 under the original plan.

The mission's timeline will depend on factors such as annual congressional funding and whether NASA and ESA choose a direct Mars-to-Earth flight or a detour to a "cislunar orbit" around the Moon for sample retrieval.

Meanwhile, China's more straightforward mission could deliver samples years ahead of NASA, representing a notable symbolic victory. Nelson downplayed comparisons between the two programs, stressing the complexity and scope of NASA's effort. "You cannot compare the two—ours is an extremely well-thought-out mission created by the scientific community of the world," he stated.

Perseverance landed on Mars in 2021 to search for evidence of ancient microbial life from billions of years ago, when the planet was warmer and wetter.