NASA Seeks Cheaper Ideas for Mars Sample Return Mission Amid Budget Crunch

LOS ANGELES—NASA is seeking a cheaper, simpler approach to one of its top science priorities in the midst of a budget crunch–retrieving precious soil samples collected on Mars and flying them back to Earth, U.S. space agency officials said on Monday.

A formal request for proposals will go out Tuesday to various NASA centers and laboratories, as well as to space industry companies, asking how to revamp a program mired in technical complexities, spending constraints, and ballooning costs, according to NASA executives.

Agency officials said in a conference call with reporters they expect alternative plans submitted for review this fall or early winter.

Associate NASA Administrator Nicky Fox said the overhaul would focus on “innovation and proven technology,” rather than on huge new technological leaps, as a way of reducing development time, risks, and costs.

It was unclear how NASA would ultimately reconcile the seeming paradox of using similar technology for spaceflight systems to accomplish something never done before, especially the feat of launching a rocket from the surface of another planet.

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