NASA selects seven companies for MSR studies

WASHINGTON — NASA has selected seven companies to conduct “out-of-the-box” concept studies for the agency’s Mars Sample Return (MSR) program that could deliver samples faster and cheaper than current plans.

NASA announced late on June 7 that it selected proposals from Aerojet Rocketdyne, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Quantum Space, SpaceX and Whittinghill Aerospace for 90-day studies of alternative MSR concepts. Each prize is worth up to $1.5 million.

The agency issued a request for proposals for those studies in mid-April after concluding that the current approach to returning samples would cost up to $11 billion and not be completed until 2040. That estimate was in response to an independent evaluation completed earlier in September that found the MSR program was unlikely to meet existing cost and schedule targets.

“The Mars sample return will be one of the most complex missions NASA has ever undertaken, and it is critical that we do it faster, with less risk and at a lower cost,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. in a new statement. studies.

NASA did not disclose details about the studies beyond the industry proposal titles. At least three of the proposals, from Aerojet, Northrop and Whittinghill, appear to focus on the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), the rocket that will launch the sample cache from the Martian surface into orbit around the planet. The request for mission study proposals highlighted the MAV as an element of particular interest to NASA for study.

“The Mars Landing Vehicle is one of the key limiting factors in terms of complexity and cost of driving,” Sandra Connelly, NASA’s associate deputy administrator for science, said at a June 5 meeting of the Academies’ Board of Space Studies. National which included a discussion of MSR.

SpaceX, not surprisingly, is offering its Starship vehicle for the MSR. Blue Origin is apparently looking at exploiting parts of the Artemis lunar exploration campaign; The request for proposals allowed companies to use elements of Artemis, such as the Space Launch System and Lunar Gateway, as government-furnished equipment for the MSR.

In addition to the seven industry studies, NASA is supporting similar MSR studies from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Applied Physics Laboratory, and a group of NASA centers. These studies will have a similar scope and plan as industry studies, Connelly said.

She told the Space Studies Board meeting that NASA was maintaining the schedule for the studies set in April. Work on the studies will officially begin in mid-July, with an interim report expected in 45 days and a final report in 90 days. NASA will then review those studies to determine what changes, if any, to make to the MSR architecture. “We hope to have the agency’s path forward in early 2025.”

NASA, in the request for proposals, included goals for both overall MSR cost reduction and annual peak costs, but did not provide any specific metrics. The agency also did not set a target for speeding up the distribution of samples. This was a deliberate choice, Connelly said, to ensure that companies proposed designs that were realistic rather than concepts aimed at hitting a specific cost or schedule target.

Connelly and other NASA officials acknowledged at the meeting that there is no guarantee that any of the studies, intended to seek what the agency calls “outside the box” approaches to MSR, will successfully lower costs or speed up schedules. .

“This is the opportunity to hear what the industry has to tell us” about reducing the cost and schedule of MSR, Jeff Gramling, director of the MSR program at NASA headquarters, said at the Space Studies Board meeting. “This is the agency that wants to follow up and make sure we haven’t missed anything before we set up the base for this mission.”

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