Of course it costs an astronomical amount of money! It's a space mission, what else would it cost?
this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
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That's really not all that much considering the federal budget.
Military spending is over a trillion, right? They could fund this with a rounding error.
Have they considered USPS flat rate shipping?
How much do we spend killing innocent people abroad every year? We can bring back some fucking rocks thanks
Independent reviewers find NASA Mars Sample Return plans are seriously flawed
My abstract for the linked article
NASA's Perseverance rover has been collecting valuable rock samples from Mars' Jezero Crater to search for signs of ancient life. An independent report found that NASA's plan to return these samples to Earth by the late 2020s at a cost of $4 billion is unworkable, and will actually cost between $8-11 billion. While returning the first samples from Mars is scientifically important, the project's budget has increased as engineers have refined complex mission designs. There are also competing priorities for funding within NASA's $3.2 billion planetary science budget. The report recommends delaying launches originally planned for 2027-2028, and developing an alternative strategy. If launched by 2030, the revised mission could still cost $8-9.6 billion.
NASA will now reassess plans to determine how to accomplish the strategically and scientifically important goal of returning the first Martian rocks to Earth for detailed study.
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Put up a damn Aldrin Cycler already.
Just the send the whole lab there, at least we can keep using it when we eventually reach mars