So as it stands currently, NASA plans to send a robotic sample return mission in the late 2020s or early 2030s to collect the samples taken by Perseverance. But I genuinely just don’t understand why they’d do this.
A mission like this would cost billions most likely, but cost aside, there’s an obvious fact they’re ignoring: SpaceX will likely beat them to Mars in sending people right around then.
As it stands, SpaceX is aiming for the 2029 window to send people to Mars, delays are definitely possible, so that might get delayed to 2031, 2033, or even 2035. But Starship is definitely capable of sending people to Mars, there’s no question there. Even if it takes until 2035, that’s maybe two to fours years later than NASA’s currently planned timeline for their sample returns, and that’s assuming NASA experiences no delays.
So really what I’m asking is, am I the only one who thinks it’s extremely moronic that Congress is willing to give billions to NASA to do something that SpaceX will either do in a few years or have already done by the time NASA does it? Why can’t they just admit that Starship’s the future and get to work already? Their current timeline for crewed missions to Mars is 2040 at the earliest, while SpaceX is planning for 2029, I know Congress loves SLS, but really, come on.