Naomi Cooper
NASA has selected 10 research proposals from commercial companies and government centers to explore faster, more affordable ways of bringing Mars samples back to Earth under the Mars Sample Return Program.
Blue Origin, L3Harris Technologies‘ Aerojet Rocketdyne subsidiary, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Quantum Space, SpaceX and Whittinghill Aerospace will receive a $1.5 million contract to conduct 90-day studies while NASA research centers, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory will also produce studies, NASA said Friday.
“Mars Sample Return will be one of the most complex missions NASA has undertaken, and it is critical that we carry it out more quickly, with less risk, and at a lower cost,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, a 2024 Wash100 awardee.
NASA is working with the European Space Agency on the Mars Sample Return Program, which aims to retrieve samples of Mars’ surface collected by the Perseverance rover and return them back to Earth for study.
