Filed under
sample-return
2 milestones, in chronological order.
- 23 January 2026The Present Push
Mars Sample Return runs out of money
Ten sealed tubes have lain in the dust at Three Forks since January 2023, waiting for a retrieval mission that Congress declined to fund three years later.
- Earliest returns 2031 — if anyone goes to fetch themThe Road AheadPlanned
The samples that stayed on Mars
Congress defunded Mars Sample Return in January 2026. Perseverance's sealed tubes sit in Jezero while China's Tianwen-3 aims to bring back martian rock by 2031.