NASA will award seven space companies USD1.5 million each to conduct a 90-day study that examines more affordable and faster methods of bringing samples from Mars’ surface back to Earth as part of the agency’s Mars Sample Return Program.
The following companies and proposals were selected from among those that responded to an April 15, 2024, request for proposals:
- Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado: “Lockheed Martin Rapid Mission Design Studies for Mars Sample Return”
- SpaceX in Hawthorne, California: “Enabling Mars Sample Return With Starship”
- Aerojet Rocketdyne in Huntsville, Alabama: “A High-Performance Liquid Mars Ascent Vehicle, Using Highly Reliable and Mature Propulsion Technologies, to Improve Program Affordability and Schedule”
- Blue Origin in Monrovia, California: “Leveraging Artemis for Mars Sample Return”
- Quantum Space, in Rockville, Maryland: “Quantum Anchor Leg Mars Sample Return Study”
- Northrop Grumman in Elkton, Maryland: “High TRL MAV Propulsion Trades and Concept Design for MSR Rapid Mission Design”
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Whittinghill Aerospace in Camarillo, California: “A Rapid Design Study for the MSR Single Stage Mars Ascent Vehicle”
“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. “I’m excited to see the vision that these companies, centres, and partners present as we look for fresh, exciting, and innovative ideas to uncover great cosmic secrets from the Red Planet.”
NASA’s Mars Sample Return is a strategic partnership with the European Space Agency. NASA says returning scientifically selected samples to Earth for study using the most sophisticated instruments around the world can revolutionise our understanding of Mars and would fulfill one of the highest-priority solar system exploration goals as identified by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.
