In a perfect and parsimonious world, a single two-stage spacecraft would land on Mars, scoop up soil samples in situ, and transfer them to an ascent stage which would blast off into orbit.

Thanks to NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission, scientists for the first time in history are able to retrieve handpicked samples—ranging from rock cores the size of a piece of blackboard ...

Earlier this month, outgoing NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and other agency officials presented two possible plans for the mission, known as Mars Sample Return, for the incoming administration.

NASA is looking to simplify plans to return a cache of science samples collected by the ongoing Mars Perseverance rover mission. The original architecture, conceptualized here, could cost up to $ ...

In a perfect and parsimonious world, a single two-stage spacecraft would land on Mars, scoop up soil samples in situ, and transfer them to an ascent stage which would blast off into orbit.