Mars Sample Return is NASA's new money pit

[Legend]

NASA's Mars Sample Return has a new price tag—and it's colossal | Ars Technica

Returning samples from Mars would be incredible, but this mission is not prioritizing that.

Pretty obvious how to reduce cost, IMO. Delete all the extra cruft. No orbital rendezvous. No ion engines. Two stage solids for direct return. If you want a fetch rover put it in a different lander.

"Delete the Europeans, how could you?"

You can have Mars rocks, budget, or…

— Casey Handmer, PhD (@CJHandmer) June 23, 2023

It's also really funny because SpaceX's Starship is already being built to do this, and has NASA funding, yet NASA is ignoring it.