NASA Selects Rocket Lab for Mars Sample Return Study Written 9 October 2024

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Rocket Lab Electron rocket launch, January 31, 2020. | Credit: Scott Andrews; Wikipedia; Public Domain

Space News reports, “NASA has awarded a contract to Rocket Lab to study alternative concepts for Mars Sample Return (MSR), joining several other efforts to improve the cost and schedule of the program. Rocket Lab said Oct. 7 that it received a contract to study what it called 'a simplified, end-to-end mission concept' for MSR that would deliver samples being collected by the Perseverance rover to Earth for a 'fraction' of currently projected costs, estimated to be as high as $11 billion, and several years earlier than 2040.”
Full Story (Space News)