Space.com on MSN

Is the US forfeiting its Red Planet leadership to China's Mars Sample Return plan?

"Returning the scientifically selected samples that await us on Mars, as part of a balanced portfolio, will help to ensure the US does not cede leadership in deep space to other nations, such as China ...
Yahoo

NASA’s Mars Sample Return Mission in Jeopardy as U.S. Considers Abandoning Retrieval

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Right now one of the most advanced planetary explorers ever built is scouring the surface of Mars. Supported by a team of hundreds ...
Space.com on MSN

Trump's 2026 budget plan would cancel NASA's Mars Sample Return mission. Experts say that's a 'major step back'

The White House says NASA's Mars Sample Return mission is a waste of money, but experts say the mission could help it achieve its goal of putting humans on Mars.
Scientific American

Mars Sample That May Contain Evidence of Life Might Never Come Home

Update: A minibus spending package passed by the House of Representatives on January 8, 2026, effectively cancels the Mars Sample Return program by eliminating almost all funding for future missions.
Ars Technica

NASA found intriguing rocks on Mars, so where does that leave Mars Sample Return?

NASA’s interim administrator, Sean Duffy, was fired up on Wednesday when he joined a teleconference to talk about new scientific findings that concerned the potential for life to have once existed on ...