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Mars sample-return mission gets boost from Trump’s 2021 budget request
On Monday, Feb. 10, the White House released its 2021 federal budget request, and in it, the administration identified NASA’s Mars sample return plans as a top priority. It also earmarked funding for a future mission to map out where ice is located on Mars.
The request asks for $25.2 billion for NASA, which is roughly a 12% boost over what the agency’s current budget is.
Of that $25.2 billion, Trump has designated $233 million for “Mars Future Missions” — one of which hopes to transport pristine pieces of the Red Planet to Earth, sometime around the 2031 time frame.
“Mars Future supports the development of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission that is planning to enter formulation (Phase A) as early as the summer of FY 2020,” NASA officials wrote in a description of the agency’s proposed 2021 allocation.
“In FY 2021, MSR formulation activities include concept and technology development, and early design and studies in support of the Sample Return Lander and the Capture/Containment and Return System,” they added. “Mars Future also supports a study of the facility required for handling of returned samples.”
The samples NASA is referring to will be collected by NASA’s next Mars rover, which is scheduled to launch in July. Dubbed the Mars 2020 rover, the six-wheeled robot will land on Mars in Feb. 2021, touching down inside Jezero Crater. It’s goal: to look for signs of life, and to collect samples of Mars for future return to Earth.
The rover, which will receive an official name sometime in March, will bag and tag samples of rocks and dirt, sealing them in canisters for eventual return to Earth. Once they arrive here, scientists all around the world will be able to study the samples and better understand our celestial neighbor.
The sample return part of the mission is a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). It will be a multi-step process, which includes the launch of NASA’s Sample Return Lander (SRL) followed by ESA’s Earth Return Orbiter (ERO).
The logistics are still being finalized as NASA is looking for a director to lead the program. But a rough outline of the planned return can be broken down as follows:
NASA’s sample return vehicle will carry a small rocket called the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) along with an ESA-built rover, called the Sample Fetch Rover (SRF). The SRF will seek out the samples collected by the 2020 rover, and haul them to the MAV.
From there, the MAV will then launch the samples into orbit around Mars; there they’ll be picked up by the ERO, and the craft will head back toward Earth. Once in close proximity to Earth, the ERO will jettison the container, and it will land in the Utah desert. NASA expects this to all happen around 2031, although none of the dates are official at this point.
Also outlined in the budget is a need for a Sampling Receiving Facility, where the precious bits of Mars will be handled with the utmost care. In the facility, scientists will catalog the samples, and make sure that there’s no cross-contamination with Earth particles. (And to ensure that if there is life on Mars, no little Martian microbes will get out into the environment.)
But that’s not all, the “Mars Future Missions” budgetary line also allows for a collaboration with Canada to create the Mars Ice Mapper. Detailed information on this project is scarce at the moment as it’s in its very early stages.
“The Mars Ice Mapper is a remote sensing mission under study intended to map and profile the near-surface (3-15 meters) water ice, particularly that which lies in the mid-latitude regions, in support of future science and exploration missions,” NASA officials wrote in the budget document.
The Mars Ice Mapper could be a preliminary step in the effort to put humans on Mars, a goal NASA aims to accomplish sometimes in the 2030’s.
The 2021 budget request allocates more money to future Mars missions than previous budgets have, lining up with NASA’s overall goal of sending astronauts to both the moon and Mars.
If this budget request is any indication, the “Mars Future Missions” programs could set their budgets steadily increased as the years progress. But it’s not set in stone. The request is just that, a request. Congress has the ultimate approval and could choose to fund everything as it, or shuffle things around. Let’s hope it’s the latter so valuable programs, like STEM engagement, Earth science missions, and an incredible telescope are not cancelled.
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Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
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Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
Tesla plans to supply over 100 Megapack units to support a large stationary storage project in Japan, making it one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities.
Tesla’s Megapack grid-scale batteries have been selected to back an energy storage project in Japan, coming as the latest of the company’s continued deployment of the hardware.
As detailed in a report from Nikkei this week, Tesla plans to supply 142 Megapack units to support a 548 MWh storage project in Japan, set to become one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities. The project is being overseen by financial firm Orix, and it will be located at a facility Maibara in central Japan’s Shiga prefecture, and it aims to come online in early 2027.
The deal is just the latest of several Megapack deployments over the past few years, as the company continues to ramp production of the units. Tesla currently produces the Megapack at a facility in Lathrop, California, though the company also recently completed construction on its second so-called “Megafactory” in Shanghai China and is expected to begin production in the coming weeks.
READ MORE ON TESLA MEGAPACKS: Tesla Megapacks help power battery supplier Panasonic’s Kyoto test site
Tesla’s production of the Megapack has been ramping up at the Lathrop facility since initially opening in 2022, and both this site and the Shanghai Megafactory are aiming to eventually reach a volume production of 10,000 Megapack units per year. The company surpassed its 10,000th Megapack unit produced at Lathrop in November.
During Tesla’s Q4 earnings call last week, CEO Elon Musk also said that the company is looking to construct a third Megafactory, though he did not disclose where.
Last year, Tesla Energy also had record deployments of its Megapack and Powerwall home batteries with a total of 31.4 GWh of energy products deployed for a 114-percent increase from 2023.
Other recently deployed or announced Megapack projects include a massive 600 MW/1,600 MWh facility in Melbourne, a 75 MW/300 MWh energy storage site in Belgium, and a 228 MW/912 MWh storage project in Chile, along with many others still.
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.
Tesla highlights the Megapack site replacing Hawaii’s last coal plant
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Elon Musk responds to Ontario canceling $100M Starlink deal amid tariff drama
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, opens new tab on February 3 that he was “ripping up” his province’s CA$100 million agreement with Starlink in response to the U.S. imposing tariffs on Canadian goods.
Elon Musk company SpaceX is set to lose a $100 million deal with the Canadian province of Ontario following a response to the Trump administration’s decision to apply 25 percent tariffs to the country.
Starlink, a satellite-based internet service launched by the Musk entity SpaceX, will lose a $100 million deal it had with Ontario, Premier Doug Ford announced today.
Starting today and until U.S. tariffs are removed, Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts.
Every year, the Ontario government and its agencies spend $30 billion on procurement, alongside our $200 billion plan to build Ontario. U.S.-based businesses will…
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 3, 2025
Ford said on X today that Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts:
“We’ll be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink. Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy. Canada didn’t start this fight with the U.S., but you better believe we’re ready to win it.”
It is a blow to the citizens of the province more than anything, as the Starlink internet constellation has provided people in rural areas across the globe stable and reliable access for several years.
Musk responded in simple terms, stating, “Oh well.”
Oh well https://t.co/1jpMu55T6s
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2025
It seems Musk is less than enthused about the fact that Starlink is being eliminated from the province, but it does not seem like all that big of a blow either.
As previously mentioned, this impacts citizens more than Starlink itself, which has established itself as a main player in reliable internet access. Starlink has signed several contracts with various airlines and maritime companies.
It is also expanding to new territories across the globe on an almost daily basis.
With Mexico already working to avoid the tariff situation with the United States, it will be interesting to see if Canada does the same.
The two have shared a pleasant relationship, but President Trump is putting his foot down in terms of what comes across the border, which could impact Americans in the short term.
Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
