NASA has cited federal budget concerns as the reason for pumping the brakes on its Mars Sample Return mission meant to bring pieces of the Red Planet back to Earth in 2033, but several lawmakers are calling the move “short-sighted” and have accused the agency of flying “in the face of Congressional authority” by moving to scale back.
In a letter sent Tuesday, six senators and representatives from both sides of the aisle told NASA Administrator Bill Nelson they were “mystified” by the agency’s “rash decision” to preemptively cut down the program in anticipation of possible budget cuts down the line.
The agency earlier this month blamed budget uncertainty—Congress has yet to approve a fiscal year 2024 federal budget and has narrowly missed several government shutdowns—for an order given to three field centers to “start ramping back on activities” related to the Mars retrieval mission, a project estimated to cost between $8 and $11 billion.
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