NASA has reportedly abandoned its proposed mission to Mars, leaving China to potentially become the first nation to bring samples back to Earth.
Human exploration of the Red Planet has been speculated on for decades but it comes with a lot of logistical problems.
Humans are yet to step foot on Mars, with the likes of Elon Musk expressing hopes to one day achieve this milestone.
While people haven’t been to Earth’s neighboring planet, NASA has sent robots to explore the terrain, with more missions proposed for the future.
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However, it seems like this might have all changed after it was announced that the space agency will no longer go ahead with its sample return mission.
On the NASA website, it explains how the Mars Sample Return (MSR) ‘would be NASA’s and ESA’s (European Space Agency) ambitious, multi-mission campaign to bring carefully selected samples to Earth’.
It continued: “MSR would fulfill one of the highest priority solar system exploration goals from the science community. Returned samples would revolutionize our understanding of Mars, our solar system and prepare for human explorers to the Red Planet.”
This would have marked the first time in history that ‘carefully selected Martian samples’ are brought back to Earth.
This could mean that the opportunity is left to China, who are planning their own sample return mission currently scheduled for next year.
For now at least, NASA appears to be focusing on reigniting its lunar efforts after the return of the Artemis II crew last week.
Many social media users were left confused after the Orion capsule, which carried NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, to the Moon and back, appeared to have a hole in the heat shield.
Clearing things up, the head of NASA, Jared Isaacman, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “I am hesitant to get ahead of a proper data review, but I understand the space community’s curiosity, especially when imagery can give the impression of a problem.
“As you would expect, engineers were eager to inspect the heat shield, starting with diver imagery shortly after splashdown and continuing with the review aboard the ship. No unexpected conditions were observed. I suspect when the images are released, it will be pretty obvious the stark difference between Artemis I and Artemis II head shield performance.”
He added: “We will complete a full data review across all systems, including the thermal protection system, and make the results publicly available.”