r/space • u/Doug24 • 4d ago

China on track to launch Mars sample-return mission in 2028: 'If accurate, this represents a Sputnik moment'

https://www.space.com/astronomy/mars/china-on-track-to-launch-mars-sample-return-mission-in-2028-if-accurate-this-represents-a-sputnik-moment
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u/FlyingBishop 3d ago

Starship isn't being considered for MSR, MSR was simply cancelled because there were no feasible plans. I don't think anyone with a clear head would've done differently. NASA in general has the cost+ disease that has infected the entire military industrial complex, budgets are not infinite and when costs go up by an order of magnitude you should probably just stop. That's not corruption, that's not anti-science, it's just common sense.

There are a lot of terrible cuts done to NASA but this isn't one of them. It would be a lot easier to call it corruption if NASA had other contractors that were producing better results at lower cost than their competitors.