Europe is also giving up! NASA's Mars Sample Return mission officially canceled: Why not let China snatch the prize instead?
The European Space Agency (ESA) must be seething with frustration. Back then, NASA employed every possible tactic to get ESA involved in the MSR (Mars Sample Return) mission, securing for Europe the crucial task of developing the Earth Return Orbiter. Now, NASA abruptly pulls out without even a single euro in compensation—hundreds of millions in investment have gone down the drain. Where can ESA turn for justice?
On March 19, the 345th ESA Council meeting reached a resolution: ESA member states unanimously voted to formally cancel the Earth Return Orbiter mission.
To be fair, ESA’s reaction has come too late. As the leading party, the United States already passed its FY2026 budget earlier this year, explicitly refusing support for the current MSR plan—effectively terminating funding. This means the MSR mission is already dead and completely abandoned! In fact, signs that the project might be scrapped had already emerged as early as last May!
Trump was deeply committed to science missions he could complete during his presidency, but showed zero interest in projects whose results would only appear after he left office. Hence, he strongly supported the Artemis program aimed at returning to the Moon—but kept his distance from Mars missions. NASA’s funding was slashed by half, nearly causing the agency to collapse. To survive, NASA naturally cut the most expensive component: the Mars sample return mission.
The first phase of this two-decade-long Mars sample return plan has actually already been implemented. Many may not know that the Perseverance rover currently working hard on Mars is precisely the first probe of the MSR mission. Perseverance arrived on Mars back in 2021 and began operations immediately.
According to plan, Perseverance is supposed to collect a total of 38 samples—including Martian rocks, soil, and atmospheric samples. So far, it has successfully gathered 30 samples. Powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG), Perseverance operates remarkably efficiently—unaffected by Martian seasons, including dust storms, which only require basic dust and sand protection. There’s no need to worry about solar panels being covered by dust or planning hibernation periods through winter.
Perseverance truly stands out among Mars rovers, vastly outperforming predecessors like “Phoenix,” “Opportunity,” and “Spirit.” It even surpasses China’s first Mars rover, Zhurong. Yet, it’s extremely regrettable that NASA has, over the past several decades, become nothing more than a large-budget contractor—with little control over complex, decade-long projects.
The reason is simple: these contractors are purely profit-driven, while NASA’s commissioners have aligned themselves with them, learning only how to scam massive funds without improving actual capabilities. Even the Artemis program—the one currently running most smoothly and enjoying Trump’s strong support—is plagued with problems. The SLS rocket, retrofitted from old space shuttle engines, costs $2 billion per launch. Elon Musk even joked he could do it for $200 million—so just what exactly is the $2 billion being spent on?
The cancellation of the MSR mission is grounded in reality: the project was overly ambitious, NASA overestimated its own capabilities, underestimated the difficulty, repeatedly changed plans, and suffered severe budget overruns. Added to this, Trump’s impatience and preference for quick wins meant he wouldn’t support projects yielding results only after his departure. Thus, the cancellation of the MSR mission was inevitable. Therefore, all the painstakingly collected samples by Perseverance may never see a follow-up mission. With the subsequent phase canceled, the MSR mission is effectively terminated!
Some netizens, eager to stir things up, proposed a questionable idea: since Perseverance has successfully collected samples, these meticulously gathered specimens—far more refined than China’s Tianwen-3 mission, which simply lands on Mars and scoops up a handful of soil—are clearly superior. We must admit that. Indeed, NASA’s Perseverance collects samples en route while exploring—this is impressive.
But the essence of the Mars sample return mission lies in bringing those samples back to Earth—not analyzing them using crude onboard equipment. Even if NASA’s samples are precious, what good are they if they can’t be brought home? That’s where the dubious suggestion comes into play. Why not have China’s Tianwen-3 directly intercept America’s samples?
Wouldn’t that be perfect? The carefully selected samples have already been sealed and left on Mars, with coordinates publicly disclosed by NASA. Just follow the map and pick them up one by one—problem solved!
If this were to happen, it would be a devastating blow to NASA—humiliating in the extreme! But we Chinese are decent people—we won’t do something that harms others without benefitting ourselves. After all, Tianwen-3’s sample container uses a loose-sealed design different from NASA’s. Given the vast distance between Earth and Mars—ranging from 50 million km to over 400 million km—it’s impossible to design a system that accommodates both. So we’ll stick to our own path. If Americans fail to complete their work, we certainly won’t clean up their mess!
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1861066891495436/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.