--- title: "Experts Say NASA’s Mars Sample Return Plan Is Deeply Flawed" description: "An independent review board found several serious issues regarding NASA's Mars Sample Return mission's timetable, cost, and technical plans." date: "2023-09-24" modified: "2023-09-24" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasas-mars-sample-return-flawed" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "mars" - "mars samples" - "NASA" - "the digest" --- # Experts Say NASA’s Mars Sample Return Plan Is Deeply Flawed ![An independent review board found several serious issues regarding NASA's Mars Sample Return mission's timetable, cost, and technical plans.]() *Surface of Mars, artwork. Mars is a rocky desert world with no surface water, its landscape typified by boulders, impact craters, sand dunes, mesas, canyons and erosion features from wind and ancient water flows or seas. The atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide and Martian surface temperatures are well below freezing. Mars has a diameter around half Earths, and a surface gravity around a third that of Earths. It orbits the Sun at a distance of around 230 million kilometres. \Image: MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images\* ## Total Mess Houston, we have... so many problems. As [*SpaceNews* reports](), NASA has delayed its Mars Sample Return (MSR) effort after an independent review board found several serious issues regarding the mission's timetable, price tag, and technical details. The return mission, initially slated for 2026, has always been [incredibly ambitious](). Still, it's remained highly anticipated; the scientific implications of such a project are vast, and researchers around the globe are eager to get their paws on the coveted Martian samples. But the mission — which, importantly, is a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) — has been [plagued by uncertainty](). Back in June, reports that its [budget had begun to spiral out of control]() brought about a lot of raised eyebrows. Shortly thereafter, the [two-month review]() by an independent review board was underway. Unfortunately, to call the review "scathing" might be an understatement. Noting that the MSR mission is "a deep-space exploration priority for NASA," the experts argue that the "strategic and high scientific value of MSR is not being communicated appropriately" to Congress, the scientific community, or the American public, causing confusion and eroding credibility. Even more harshly, the experts go as far as to say that the mission was "organized under an unwieldy structure" and established with "unrealistic budget and schedule expectations from the beginning." "As a result," the board concluded, "there is currently no credible, congruent technical, nor properly margined schedule, cost, and technical baseline that can be accomplished with the likely available funding." In other words, according to the review, though the sample return *does* hold massive scientific promise, NASA's effort has been an expensive, disorganized, and generally incoherent mess. ## Review Times Two Where NASA goes from here remains unclear. In response to the report's findings, the agency announced that it had organized an internal review board — basically, a review board for the review board — to assess the review and, hopefully, restructure the mission according to a new, more feasible timeline. To be fair, this mission is wildly complicated. This would be the first time humanity launched a spacecraft from an alien planet — a goal riddled with unknowns and massive technical challenges — nevermind landed it again on Earth. But it would *also* be the first time humanity would get its hands on a bona fide Martian sample, and in the face of the blistering review, NASA is holding firm in its belief of the mission's significance. "NASA has plans for a robust Moon to Mars exploration approach," Nicola Fox, NASA's associate administrator for science and the leader of the new *new* review team, said in a statement. "Mars is \[a\] rich destination for scientific discovery and understanding the red planet supports the agency’s Artemis program to ultimately send humans to Mars." **More on the MSR:** [*Uh Oh, the Cost of Nasa's Mars Sample Return Mission Is Spiralling out of Control*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()