NASA asked for cheaper ways to get Mars samples. It had one all along.

NASA will investigate two new approaches to bring its Mars samples to Earth through a mission proposal that is less expensive and technically complicated. 

The space agency will flesh out options that could either involve using a commercial lander, possibly supplied by SpaceX or Blue Origin, to get to the surface of the Red Planet, or incorporate the tried-and-true sky crane, the landing system that brought the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers to the Martian surface in the first place.

Either change in the mission's design could reduce the estimated $11 billion cost to under $8 billion, said administrator Bill Nelson, who will be leaving his post when former President Donald Trump is inaugurated again later this month. These options could also shorten the timeline to bring the samples home by one to five years, making the earliest possible touchdown in 2035, he said. 

"The very reason that we pulled the plug was this thing had gotten out of control," Nelson said. "What our wizards at NASA have figured out is that they've come up now with a solution to get the successful outcome we want, and that is, we want to return 30 titanium tubes as soon as possible at the cheapest price."

NASA plans to finalize the mission design in the second half of 2026.

Recent exceptional rock discoveries have only mounted pressure on NASA to solve the problems facing its Mars Sample Return mission, its plan to fly bits of rock, dust, and air collected by Perseverance back to Earth. 

The mission has been in limbo since a review found it would cost upward of $11 billion and take nearly two decades to achieve. NASA engaged the greater aerospace industry for input on how to wrangle in spending and development last year. Several companies suggested a variety of ideas, which Mashable reported, including repurposing Artemis moon landers and rethinking the last leg of the journey. 

Mashable's review of the proposal summaries in August 2024 showed many of the ideas focused on the Mars Ascent Vehicle, the rocket that would blast the samples off Mars and into space — a sign that insiders had identified the MAV as a key sticking point.

This mission would mark humanity's first attempt at launching off another planet. Aerojet Rocketdyne, Whittinghill Aerospace, and Northrop Grumman's proposals all pitched finding ways to make that rocket — and the lander bringing it down to the surface — lighter and smaller. Aerojet Rocketdyne went a step farther, urging NASA to reduce the mass of the Mars rocket to reuse its sky crane. 

For both new approaches, the mission’s landing system would carry a smaller version of the MAV. The platform’s solar panels would be swapped for a radioisotope power system that can provide power and heat through the dust storm season.

NASA officials struggled to articulate Tuesday why the sky crane hadn't been integrated into the mission's architecture from the start.

"Why, when this was originally being designed, was it being designed with a much larger lander so they could not employ the already existing and successful sky crane?" Nelson asked rhetorically. "Of course, if you build a bigger and better mouse trap, it's going to be more complicated and it's going to get more costly."

Since landing on Mars in 2021, Perseverance has filled sample tubes with rocks and dirt. NASA's goal has been to retrieve at least some of them and get them to Earth in the 2030s. 

To do that, the agency planned for the rover to deliver the samples to a robotic lander equipped with a rocket. If the rover couldn't make the drive, drones similar to the recently deceased Ingenuity helicopter would pick them up and fly them to a lander. Once the tubes were in space, an orbiter built by the European Space Agency would bring them some 140 million miles back to Earth. 

Over the summer, Perseverance discovered a spotted rock with the most compelling signs of ancient Martian life yet, though a sample would need to be shipped back to Earth for confirmation. Casey Dreier, senior space policy adviser for The Planetary Society, told Mashable last year he hopes the recent accomplishments on Mars will galvanize the political support to bring samples home. 

"It's kind of a reminder that no one is going to care if it costs $6 billion or $11 billion if we discover evidence of life beyond Earth for the first time in human history," he said then.

Nelson told reporters Tuesday it will be up to the Trump administration to make the final decision on the path forward for the sample return mission. NASA will spend the next year working on engineering plans for either new approach. When asked if Nelson had an idea of whether the new administration wants to continue the mission, he said he didn't know.

"I can't imagine that they don't," he said. "I don't think we want the only sample return coming back on a Chinese spacecraft."