(Photo : Photo illustration by NASA via Getty Images)
In this concept illustration provided by NASA, NASA's Perseverance (Mars 2020) rover uses its drill to core a rock sample and will store them in sealed tubes on the planet's surface for future missions to retrieve in the area known as Jezero crater on the planet Mars.
NASA's Mars Sample Return (MSR) missions are expected to negatively affect other space activities. Recently, the international space agency released its 2024 budget proposal.
NASA's FY2024 budget request is not something to take lightly since it is a record-breaking $8.26 billion, as reported by Space Policy Online.
The majority of this billion-dollar budget will go to the NASA-ESA MSR missions. Now, experts believe that MSR missions could create issues in other space activities.
NASA's MSR Could Negatively Affect Other Space Missions
According to SpaceNews' latest report, NASA's MSR missions growing costs can lead to major problems in other planetary science and heliophysics endeavors.
(Photo : Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
The NASA InSight spacecraft launches onboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas-V rocket on May 5, 2018, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. - NASA on May 5 launched its latest Mars lander, called InSight, designed to perch on the surface and listen for "Marsquakes" ahead of eventual human missions to explore the Red Planet.
Also Read: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Snaps 'Beautiful Cosmic Death' of Rare Star
The FY2024 budget proposal shows that NASA needs $949.3 million for Mars Sample Return activities alone. This is a major increase since the NASA FY2023 budget request only asks for $653.2 million for its MSR missions.
"The budget supports increased requirements in [fiscal year] 2024 to ensure the project continues to make progress," said NASA via its official FY2024 budget proposal.
NASA also warned that the costs for its MSR missions will further increase in the following years.
How NASA Plans to Fix It
NASA said that it will address the budget challenge by reducing funding for other space missions.
The space organization added that it considers decreasing the budget for other elements of its Mars Sample Return activities.
Based on these two solutions, other space endeavors will still be affected by the rising MSR costs. This was already seen when the VERITAS Venus mission was delayed in 2022. Because of this, VERITAS' future is now in jeopardy.
If you want to learn more about the delayed VERITAS mission, you can click here.
Other stories we recently wrote about NASA's missions:
The most advanced NASA radar system is expected to reach space soon. Previously, NASA's investments in 3D printing and quantum technologies were confirmed.
For more news updates about NASA, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.
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