NASA's Next Mars Mission: A Waiting Game for Trump's Decision

NASA is planning to bring Martian rocks back to Earth, but they haven't finalized their plan yet. Instead, they're leaving the big decision up to the incoming President, Donald J. Trump. The mission, called Mars Sample Return, was initially estimated to cost up to $11 billion, but NASA has found ways to reduce the size and weight, bringing the cost down to less than $8 billion. This is a significant drop from the original estimate. Scientists are eager to get their hands on Martian rocks. While rovers and spacecraft have provided valuable data, they can't do everything. Scientists believe that studying Martian rocks in their labs with the latest tools could help them understand the red planet's past, including whether life ever existed there.Reducing the mission's size and weight might make it cheaper, but it also presents challenges. Smaller equipment means there might be less data collected, and lighter rockets might have less power to carry the samples back to Earth. It's a trade-off that NASA and the Trump administration will need to consider. The decision to leave the final call to the new administration is not unusual. It's common for big decisions about space missions to be made by the sitting president. But it does mean that the Mars Sample Return mission is in a bit of a holding pattern until Trump takes office.