The 2020 Humans to Mars Summit

Are missions to the Moon by 2024 and Mars by 2033 achievable?
How will the 2020 Mars Rover advance the goal of getting humans to Mars?
If we find life on Mars, what next?

These are just a few of the questions that will be explor…

“Overstressed” NASA Mars exploration budget threatens missions

Cost overruns on a major rover mission and proposals for both sample return missions and a new orbiter are straining NASA’s Mars exploration program and threatening the future of two ongoing missions.

Scientists worry about long-term future of NASA’s Mars exploration program

As NASA gears up a decade-long effort to return samples from Mars, some scientists are worried that the campaign may not leave any funding available for other robotic missions to the planet.

Mars sample return mission plans begin to take shape

While neither NASA nor ESA has yet to give formal approval, or funding, for missions to return samples from Mars, both agencies are taking steps to refine plans for what those missions will be.

NASA unlikely to return Mars samples in the 2020s

Despite a new emphasis on a streamlined, “lean” sample return architecture, a NASA official says it’s unlikely that suite of missions will be able to return Martian rock and soil samples to the Earth before the end of the 2020s.

NASA selects landing site for Mars 2020 rover

NASA has chosen a Martian crater that once hosted a lake and river delta as the landing site for a mission that will collect samples for eventual return to Earth.

ESA awards Mars sample return study contracts as international cooperation plans take shape

The European Space Agency awarded two contracts to Airbus to study elements of a Mars sample return approach as the outlines of international cooperation with NASA on that effort materialize.

NASA continues Mars sample return mission studies

NASA doesn’t expect to make decisions on how it will carry out a Mars sample return effort until late next year despite recent discoveries that have offered additional evidence that the planet was once, and may still be, habitable.

Cracked heat shield won’t delay Mars 2020 mission

Development of a NASA mission to collect samples on Mars for later return to Earth has suffered a setback, although one that project officials said should not affect its 2020 launch date.