Congressional supporters of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission have buckled to pressure from the Trump administration to kill the centerpiece of NASA’s exploration plans over the next decade.

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Right now one of the most advanced planetary explorers ever built is scouring the surface of Mars. Supported by a team of hundreds ...

Update: A minibus spending package passed by the House of Representatives on January 8, 2026, effectively cancels the Mars Sample Return program by eliminating almost all funding for future missions.

NASA has set a goal to return rock and soil samples from the surface of Mars in the 2030s. The mission would represent the first time scientific samples from another planet have been returned to Earth ...

Right now one of the most advanced planetary explorers ever built is scouring the surface of Mars. Supported by a team of hundreds of scientists back on Earth, the Perseverance rover has traveled ...