Mars Sample Return is cancelled. NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and the European Space Agency (ESA) planned the joint campaign to bring rock cores from Mars back to Earth. Congress stopped supporting the existing program in a spending law signed on 23 January 2026, and as of mid-October 2026 NASA had not announced a replacement mission.
The sample tubes that the Perseverance rover filled are still on Mars. Ten sit in a depot in Jezero Crater, and the rest ride inside the rover. China plans its own Mars sample mission, Tianwen-3. Japan launched a probe on 19 October 2026 to collect material from Phobos, a moon of Mars.
Mars Sample Return Status as of October 2026
The existing Mars Sample Return (MSR) program run by NASA and ESA is cancelled, and no replacement had been announced as of mid-October 2026. NASA’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget request proposed ending it, and Congress agreed in the FY2026 spending law signed on 23 January 2026.
Perseverance’s sealed tubes remain on Mars. NASA gave CNN a statement in July 2026. The agency said it “is exploring a range of potential return options that could offer simpler and more affordable approaches than the original Mars Sample Return plan, including possible commercial or international contributions.” CNN added that “NASA’s leaders still haven’t revealed a path forward.”
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| May 2025 | NASA’s FY2026 request proposes terminating MSR and requests $0 for it in FY2026 through FY2030 |
| January 2026 | The Senate passes H.R. 6938, a spending bill covering NASA, by 82 to 15 |
| 23 January 2026 | President Trump signs H.R. 6938 into law |
| 4 March 2026 | The Senate Commerce Committee clears a NASA authorization bill calling for a new, cost-capped MSR program |
| March 2026 | ESA member states ask for cancellation of the Earth Return Orbiter |
| 3 April 2026 | The FY2027 budget request is released with no MSR line |
| 2 September 2026 | A continuing resolution (CR) funds NASA at $24.4 billion through 11 December 2026 |
| 17 September 2026 | NASA’s MSR web page, updated that day, describes MSR in the past tense |
The enacted text sits in the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) joint explanatory statement. It reads: “As proposed in the budget, the agreement does not support the existing Mars Sample Return (MSR) program.” The same paragraph provides $110 million for a Mars Future Missions line “including existing MSR efforts,” aimed at radar, spectroscopy, entry, descent and landing systems, and precursor technologies.
Formally or Effectively Cancelled
Sources describe the cancellation in slightly different terms. The Planetary Society writes that “Mars Sample Return is formally canceled.” Live Science says the plans “are effectively cancelled as part of a bill approved by the U.S. Congress.” The law itself says Congress “does not support the existing” program and does not use the word “terminate.”
NASA’s own Mars Sample Return page now says MSR “was … a proposed multi-mission campaign by NASA and ESA.” On the European side, ESA’s human and robotic exploration director, Daniel Neuenschwander, said member states “asked for the cancellation of the Earth Return Orbiter mission,” European Spaceflight reported. For ESA’s wider program, see the European space program guide.
What Could Change the Status
Three pending items are worth tracking, and none had restored MSR by October 2026:
- The Senate authorization bill. The Commerce Committee bill would end the existing program and set up a new MSR with an $8 billion cost cap, SpacePolicyOnline reported. It cleared committee only and is not law.
- The FY2027 appropriation. NASA is running on a continuing resolution signed as Public Law 119-103 through 11 December 2026. No full-year FY2027 NASA spending bill has been enacted.
- Congressional requests. On 13 April 2026, Senators Schiff, Padilla, Kelly and Luján asked appropriators for at least $400 million for Mars Future Missions in FY2027, according to NASA Watch. The House FY2027 bill provides $300 million for Mars Exploration and is silent on MSR, per the American Geophysical Union (AGU) appropriations update.
The NASA budget explainer covers how these appropriation steps work.
What Mars Sample Return Was Meant to Do
Mars Sample Return was a relay of spacecraft designed to move samples from Mars to Earth. Perseverance drilled and sealed the samples, and later missions were supposed to collect them and fly them home. The 2023 review board listed these parts:
| Element | Run by | Job |
|---|---|---|
| Perseverance (Mars 2020) | NASA | Collect and cache samples |
| Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL) | NASA | Carry the Mars Ascent Vehicle |
| Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) | NASA | Launch a sample container into Mars orbit |
| Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) | ESA | Capture the container and bring it back toward Earth |
| Capture Containment and Return System (CCRS) | Not published (carried aboard ERO) | Not published |
| Sample Receiving Project | Not published | Receive samples on Earth |
ESA awarded Airbus Defence and Space a €491 million contract in October 2020 to develop the Earth Return Orbiter. Under NASA’s January 2025 plan, the orbiting container would hold 30 tubes.
The plan changed shape several times, according to CNN. The 2020 concept targeted return by 2031 at the earliest. A 2022 revision had Perseverance deliver its own samples to the lander, with two backup helicopters, and moved return to 2033. The idea is far older: NASA’s first budget request for sample return studies came in FY1978, according to Casey Dreier of The Planetary Society.
The Three Forks Depot
Perseverance built a backup cache called Three Forks in Jezero Crater, made from one tube of each sample pair collected up to that point. NASA reported the depot complete when the rover dropped the tenth tube on 28 January 2023.
Why Cost and Schedule Broke Mars Sample Return
NASA’s FY2026 technical supplement said NASA planned to terminate the program given that current architecture options remained unaffordable. Cost estimates were $8 billion to $11 billion in April 2024 and $5.8 billion to $7.7 billion in January 2025.
The 2023 Independent Review Board
NASA released the second Independent Review Board (IRB) report on 21 September 2023. The board, chaired by Orlando Figueroa, produced 20 findings and 59 recommendations. Its full report found “no credible, congruent technical, nor properly margined schedule, cost, and technical baseline that can be accomplished with the likely available funding.”
The board saw “a near zero probability” of the lander or orbiter meeting their 2027 and 2028 launch dates. It said 2030 launches were possible with adequate funding. It put the probable life-cycle cost at $8 billion to $11 billion, and at $8.0 billion to $9.6 billion for 2030 launches of both spacecraft.
The 2024 Reset and Industry Studies
On 15 April 2024, NASA’s response to the review gave a likely budget of $8 billion to $11 billion and said the design “will return samples in 2040.” Administrator Bill Nelson said: “The bottom line is, an $11 billion budget is too expensive, and a 2040 return date is too far away.” NASA asked industry for designs that could return samples in the 2030s at lower cost and risk.
In June 2024 NASA chose proposals for 90-day studies under fixed-price contracts worth up to $1.5 million each. By October 2024 there were 11 studies in total. Eight came from industry: Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Blue Origin, Quantum Space, Northrop Grumman, Whittinghill Aerospace and Rocket Lab. The rest came from NASA centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL).
Two companies published their own price claims:
- Rocket Lab pitched a return “as early as 2031” for “under $4 billion” on a fixed-price basis.
- Lockheed Martin described a fixed-price mission under $3 billion to return 30 samples no later than 2037, according to CNN.
The January 2025 Two-Option Plan
On 7 January 2025 NASA said it would evaluate two landing options: an updated sky crane like the one that landed Perseverance, or a commercial heavy lander. NASA expected to confirm a design in the second half of 2026. The NASA release gave no costs, so the figures below come from SpacePolicyOnline’s briefing coverage.
| Option | Estimated cost | Samples on Earth |
|---|---|---|
| Sky crane | $6.6 billion to $7.7 billion | 2035 to 2039 |
| Commercial heavy lander | $5.8 billion to $7.1 billion | 2035 to 2039 |
Both options had the orbiter launching in 2030 and the lander in 2031. Nelson said at least $300 million was needed in FY2025 to make the decision.
The FY2026 Termination
The FY2026 discretionary request, released 2 May 2025, would “terminate unaffordable missions such as the Mars Sample Return mission that is grossly overbudget and whose goals would be achieved by human missions to Mars.” NASA’s technical supplement said the agency “plans to terminate the Mars Sample Return Program given that current architecture options remain unaffordable.” It showed MSR at $310.0 million in the FY2024 operating plan and requested $0 for FY2026 through FY2030.
The House CJS subcommittee proposed $300 million to keep MSR going in July 2025, citing China’s planned 2028 launch. That version did not become law. The final bill cleared the Senate without MSR support. NASA spent about $2.5 billion on the program before it ended, according to Dreier.
Return moved from 2031 in the 2020 concept to 2040 in the design NASA assessed in April 2024, a slip of nine years in four.
Who Cancelled It
Accounts of who ended MSR differ. NASA began reassessing the program in 2024, CNN reported. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in September 2026 that “the prior administration canceled the Mars Sample Return mission that was on track to cost more than an aircraft carrier,” CNN reported. The President’s May 2025 budget request for NASA proposed the termination, and Congress enacted it in January 2026.
Who Gets a Mars Sample First
China’s Tianwen-3 would return material from the surface of Mars, and no NASA-ESA surface-return mission is scheduled. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) probe is already flying, but it will sample Phobos, a moon of Mars.
| Mission | Target | Status | Planned return |
|---|---|---|---|
| NASA-ESA MSR | Mars surface, Jezero Crater | Cancelled | None scheduled |
| China’s Tianwen-3 | Mars surface | Launch around 2028 (China National Space Administration, per a China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) report) or around 2030 (2024 Sun Zezhou statement) | July 2031 (2022 profile) |
| JAXA’s MMX | Phobos | Launched 19 October 2026 (Coordinated Universal Time, UTC) | 2031, at least 10 grams |
China’s Tianwen-3
Chief designer Liu Jizhong said in September 2024 that China is on course to launch in 2028. The same SpaceNews report noted that Sun Zezhou of the China Academy of Space Technology told state media in early 2024 the launch would come around 2030. The most recent official statements say 2028.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) describes two Long March-5 launches carrying a lander, ascent vehicle, service module, orbiter and return module with six science payloads. Sun’s 2022 mission profile had departure from Mars orbit in late October 2030 and arrival at Earth in July 2031. Chief scientist Zengqian Hou said in September 2026 that a prototype is being built, CNN reported. More on Beijing’s program is in the China space program guide.
Japan’s MMX
JAXA launched MMX on H3 Flight No. 10 at 19:41 UTC on 19 October 2026 from Tanegashima. The MMX mission site lists arrival at Mars in August 2027, Phobos sampling no earlier than December 2028, and Earth return in 2031. NASA’s MMX page lists the same plan. The MMX mission explainer covers the spacecraft, and the guide to the moons of Mars explains why Phobos is the target.
What Happens to Perseverance’s Samples
Perseverance’s samples stay on Mars, and no mission to retrieve them is scheduled. As of 24 July 2025, NASA’s sample tube tally showed 33 tubes used: 27 rock cores, 2 regolith, 1 atmospheric and 3 witness tubes. Ten are at Three Forks and 23 are aboard the rover.
Sapphire Canyon, drilled from the Cheyava Falls rock in July 2024, carries features a Perseverance team member calls a “potential biosignature,” CNN reported. It is sealed inside the rover.
The FY2027 budget document says “Subsequent missions could retrieve the sealed samples collected by Perseverance.” The same document cuts Perseverance funding “as NASA reassesses objectives for the mission,” which reduces the rover’s pace. It funds Mars Future Missions at $110.0 million in FY2027, $150.0 million in FY2028, $208.0 million in FY2029, $175.0 million in FY2030 and $113.0 million in FY2031.
Those five years add up to $756 million, under a tenth of the $8 billion cap in the Senate committee bill. SpacePolicyOnline’s FY2027 coverage notes MSR “was terminated last year” and is not part of the new request.
The method of retrieval is open. The FY2026 request said human missions would achieve MSR’s goals. Isaacman said on 30 August 2026: “There’s no question we’re going to go get samples, whether it’s robotic or whether it’s astronauts picking it up will be the question.” The Register summarized the January 2026 outcome as “Mars Sample Return remains cancelled.”
No full-year FY2027 NASA appropriation has been enacted, and the continuing resolution runs through 11 December 2026. To follow what replaces Mars Sample Return, track the FY2027 bill’s Mars Future Missions line through the NASA budget explainer and the US space program overview.