[meteorite-list] NASA's Mars Sample Return Mission on Hold

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Sep 1 12:27:41 2005
Message-ID: <200509011626.j81GQbV22074_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1125567147107900.xml&coll=2

NASA's Mars sample mission on hold

Scientists believe planet's soil, rocks vital to research

John Mangels
The Plain Dealer (Ohio)
September 1, 2005

NASA has decided to delay, possibly beyond the next decade, a highly
anticipated mission to Mars that would have brought some of the planet's
rusty rocks and soil back to Earth for study.

The postponement of the unmanned Mars Sample Return mission, or MSR,
will significantly affect the ability to determine whether microscopic
life ever existed on the Red Planet, some scientists say. It also could
help slow the timetable for humans to land there.

The space agency's decision to delay the $3 billion-plus MSR beyond its
tentative launch date of 2013, and to cancel a 2009 mission to send a
$500 million advanced communications relay satellite to Mars, are signs
of NASA's struggle to cope with mounting budget demands.

The agency is in the midst of profound change as it overhauls its space
exploration plans to meet President Bush's mandate to return astronauts
to the moon and eventually land on Mars. NASA is trying to determine how
to stretch its money and personnel to meet those goals.

Administrator Mike Griffin's immediate priorities are to finish
construction of the International Space Station, retire the aging space
shuttle fleet in five years, and develop a replacement vehicle as soon
as possible so astronauts can get back to the moon by 2018.

Existing programs such as the robotic exploration of Mars are having to
adjust to those new realities, even as they help lay the groundwork for
eventual human landings there.

NASA officials acknowledge that determining whether Martian rocks and
dust contain evidence of life or pose potential health or equipment
hazards is an important precursor to astronauts touching down.

"We know that sample return is necessary, especially if you're going to
put humans on the surface," said Doug McCuistion, director of the
agency's Mars exploration program. "Where in the timeline between today
and when human boots hit the surface . . . is something that needs to be
determined."

In addition to the pair of golf cart-sized rovers at work on Mars and an
orbiter en route, NASA has firm plans for two more near-term robotic
missions. In 2008, a lander called Phoenix is supposed to touch down
near the north polar ice cap and dig for organic chemicals.

And in 2010, a nuclear-powered mobile lab will test soil and rock
samples for traces of biological activity.

Beyond that is a blank slate. In the next decade NASA had intended to
send orbiters, landers, rovers and airborne scouts to prospect Mars, and
one or two sample return missions. Now the post-2010 lineup will depend
on available money and the exploration priorities set by the agency and
the scientific community in the next few months.

Many scientists are eager to bring samples of Martian rocks and soil
back to Earth labs and pore over them for chemical and biological traces
of microbes. The rovers' discovery last year of evidence that ancient
Mars had shallow seas - a key ingredient for life - heightened the
anticipation for hands-on analysis.

Even a technologically sophisticated mobile robotic lab like the one
NASA plans to land on Mars in 2010 has limits on its equipment power,
space for samples and testing repertoire.

"On Earth, you've got the ability to [use] lab techniques that are
absolutely state of the art," said Glenn MacPherson, chairman of the
mineral sciences department at the National Museum of Natural History.
"If you come up with a particular kind of analysis that's surprising,
you can perform previously unplanned types of tests. There's no way you
could ever build a robotic lander in our lifetimes that can achieve that
level of sensitivity and precision."

"I'm in the camp that believes the Mars Sample Return mission would have
the biggest single impact on our understanding of Mars," said planetary
geologist Bruce Jakosky, director of the University of Colorado's Center
for Astrobiology. "We're asking questions about current or past life.
Given our experience, I don't think anybody believes we're going to get
answers without bringing samples back."

Both scientists are part of an advisory group that will help NASA plot
Mars exploration. Both say they will push for a sample return mission in
the next decade.

"I continue to hope we can turn things around," said MacPherson. "If one
of the earlier spacecraft finds something really exciting, that may
provide the political momentum to provide the necessary funding to get
back on track again."
Received on Thu 01 Sep 2005 12:26:37 PM PDT