He served on the NASA Mars Sample Return Independent Review Board in 2023. Within these tubes are priceless samples of Mars that hold the clues to when and how Mars went from Earth-like habitability to uninhabitable desolation. Mars Sample Return is among the most challenging and complex robotic missions ever attempted, requiring the largest lander ever put on Mars, which would carry a rocket to launch the samples off the surface into Martian orbit. Mars holds secrets about what makes it possible for a planet to support life, locked in the samples that await return to Earth. NASA must provide that plan to Congress as soon as possible so that Congress can move forward with adequate funding.

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Persons: Jonathan Lunine, David C, Duncan, Jonathan I, Mars Organizations: Cornell University, NASA, CNN, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, Apollo, European Space Agency, US National Academy of Sciences, MSR, Planetary Science Locations: Washington, DC, China