Nasa to reveal major facts about Mars mission

  

The US space agency Nasa is set to give a briefing about its Mars Sample Return mission that has been under immense pressure surrounding finances and expertise to handle the ambitions.

The Mars Sample Return has been underway for years since Nasa’s Perseverance Rover started operating in February 2021.

The US agency has decided to hold the media talk at 1pm EDT to suggest what needs to be done about the mission.

One of the major components of the Perseverance Rover is to collect crucial samples from the red planet and send them back to Earth for analysis.

In 2023, the Mars Sample Return was in danger as an independent review remarked that this space programme had "unrealistic budget and schedule expectations", an "unwieldy structure" and was "not arranged to be led effectively".

Subsequently, the legislators in the House and Senate recommended cutting Nasa’s 2024 budget of $454,080,000, which was focused on the Mars Sample Return mission.

The spending was also cut by Nasa and bid adieu to the workers and contractors from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory — which is targeted to oversee the mission.

"Mars Sample Return has been a major long-term goal of international planetary exploration for the past two decades," Nasa wrote.

"Nasa's Perseverance rover is collecting compelling science samples that will help scientists understand the geological history of Mars, the evolution of its climate, and prepare for future human explorers. The return of the samples will also help Nasa's search for signs of ancient life."