The Debrief
By Christopher Plain
January 9, 2026
After years of delays and debate, the United States Congress has passed a NASA budget that omits any plan to retrieve several rock and soil samples collected and stored by the Perseverance Rover, including Martian rocks that may contain signs of past or present extraterrestrial life on the Red Planet.
According to the new compromise spending bill for the current fiscal year, it appears Congress has given in to the White House’s demands that resources needed to complete the planned Mars Sample Return (MSR) program be explicitly excluded from any approved budget. While the bill still awaits a final vote in Congress and the President’s signature, NASA officials are sending signals that the MSR program is effectively dead.
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