This article has been updated
In an update regarding its Mars Sample Return (MSR) program, NASA shared that it will be retrieving over 30 samples collected on Mars. Additionally, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that the agency is exploring alternative ways to retrieve the science samples earlier than anticipated and at a lower cost.
The initial funds for the project, 11 billion dollars, are “too expensive,” and not returning samples until 2040 is “unacceptably too long,'” Nelson said of the initial plan. By then, the administrator speculates that astronauts could already be exploring the Red Planet.
