Mars Sample Return?

Alan Stern, NASA's new associate administrator in charge of the Science Mission Directorate, as well as a major force behind the mission currently on its way to explore Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, is calling for a mission to Mars that will bring rock and soil samples back to Earth. According to SPACE.com, Stern is aiming for the 2016-2020 period for the flight, which he estimates will cost between $3 and $4 billion.

Some planetary scientists are less than thrilled. They worry such an expensive mission during a time of tight budgets will suck money from other proposed Mars mission, destroying the momentum the current Mars exploration program is building by sending smaller missions on a regular schedule. Stern counters that, given the tight budget, they can either go for a big jump now or watch future funds be cut.

Stern may be correct. Still, his proposal seems to put a lot of eggs in one basket. If the mission failed, as missions to Mars are prone to do, we can expect Congress to question a program that wastes so much money-- forgetting for the moment that Congress would have approved the mission yearly as it was developed. In this case, as in other government programs, the determining factor may not be as much the merit of the proposal as the surrounding, shifting politics.