Nasa: 'New plan needed to return rocks from Mars'
The quest to return rock samples from Mars to Earth to see if they contain traces of past life is going to go through a major overhaul.
The US space agency says the current mission design could not return the materials before 2040 on the existing funds and the $11bn (£9bn) to make it happen sooner is not sustainable.
Nasa is going to canvas ideas for a cheaper, faster alternative.
It hopes to have a solution on the drawing board later in the year.
Returning rock samples from Mars is regarded as the single most important priority in planetary exploration, and has been for decades.
Just as the Moon rocks brought home by Apollo astronauts revolutionised our understanding of early Solar System history, so materials from the Red Planet are likely to recast our thinking on the possibilities for life beyond Earth.
But Nasa now acknowledges the way it’s going about achieving the samples’ return is simply unrealistic in the present fiscal environment.
