this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
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If it's too late to free up the budget, then by all means continue the program. But no more long shots like this until we have a solid plan. I love NASA, I love the prospect of getting these things done, but no one nation can do something like a Mars sample collection effectively. It needs to be a planetary effort. And I don't mean getting an actuator from the UK and a commemorative plaque in 40 languages from Luxembourg or whatever, I mean serious funding. It's long past time we turn our symbolic collaboration to actual funding, agreeing to match the expenditure with 20 countries as percentage of federal budget or what have you. Like if the EU matched the percentage of our budget (however many billions) from their budget. Now add China, Russia, India, Japan, Australia - even 10mil or however little the percentage would add up to from South africa would help if every moderately big county on Earth did that.
I really don't think it's a question of not enough funding. NASA just doesn't seem to be capable of spending and planning efficiently.
By comparison, the whole cost of SpaceX's Starship program is estimated to be between $5 and $10 billion. It should be possible to do a far cheaper and more effective sample return with launchers like that available.
They basically aren't allowed to spend efficiently or else they wouldn't get funding in the first place. NASA is just an excuse for congressmen to funnel money into their districts. The fact that any science happens along the way is a miracle already.