The federal budget plan for 2026 presented by Donald Trump caused one Alarmed reaction in the international scientific and spatial community. One of the most discussed cuts The elimination of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) missionAn ambitious project from NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) focused on Breng Marzian Collected by Rover Persverings Back to Earth on Earth and Atmosphere, active on Mars since 2021. The goal? Analyze in detail elements that can contain traces of the past.
According to the provisional document of the Office for Management and the Budget (Ord), the mission is assessed “out of the hand of costs” and its goals can be achieved in the future by missions with human crew. The director prefers to concentrate on immediate objectives such as the return to the Moon and a future mission with astronauts on Mars, indicating that the reduction of the programs is considered less priority or too heavy.
The expected cut would be drastic: A -24.3% for the general financing of NASA and a reduction of 47% for the budget devoted to scientific research. According to various sources, the MSR could be one of the first “victims” of this economic renovation.
However, many experts and academics see a significant retreat for spatial exploration in the cancellation of the mission. John Connolly, a former designer NASA and teacher at Texas A&M University, remembered that The idea of a return champions from Mars has been circulating since the 70s and has always represented a kind of “holy grail” of the robot missions. However, the project has evolved over time and has become a complex mission with several launches, vehicles and delivery passages, until the estimated costs reached approximately 11 billion euros and a possible return date of the samples in 2040. A more enclosed version, evaluated in 203, suggested the possibility of the operation to the operation.
Bruce Jakosky, researcher from the University of Colorado, underlined that the return of the champions would not only serve science, but also for the safety of future missions with astronauts. Investigating the Mars substance in the laboratory, and in particular the presence of toxic substances such as compliance, would allow it to anticipate health and technical risks. It would also be the first real travel test to go from Mars, a crucial stop to plan the missions with crew.
John Rummel, a former manager for the planetary protection of NASA, also repeated the strategic importance of the project, not only to collect data about the Mars environment, but also to show the ability to return safely to Earth. Every error in the future can jeopardize both the health of astronauts and the terrestrial ecosystem.
However, not everyone sees a negative way leaving the MSR program. Robert Zubin, founder of the Mars Society and a well -known proponent of the colonization of Mars, interprets the choice as an opportunity to accelerate more ambitious plans. Thanks to technologies such as the SpaceX Starship, Zubin is introducing a scenario in which a robot fleet could start in 2028, followed by an unparalleled expedition in 2031 and finally by a mission with astronauts in 2033. But he also warns: without investments in the first steps, the entire program is likely to fail.
At the basis of the dispute is an always current dilemma: what should be the priority of spatial exploration? For many scientists such as Jakosky, the answer is clear. We need a rational approach that does not sacrifice science for purely image operations. And above all, it is essential to not interrupt the logical thread that today connects the robots on Mars soil with the future human footsteps on the red planet.
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