Frankly, the Mars Sample Return concept sounded long on optimism and short on simple solutions. "Hope Perseverance is still around to hand over samples in 6 yea

Frankly, the Mars Sample Return concept sounded long on optimism and short on simple solutions. "Hope Perseverance is still around to hand over samples in 6 years" or "send helicopters to retrieve sample containers" seems like less like a plan and more like a wish. https://www.space.com/nasa-troubled-mars-sample-return-mission-scientists-upset https://www.space.com/nasa-troubled-mars-sample-return-missi... JAXA's MMX Phobos mission seems more appropriately scoped. Phobos might have a few pebbles kicked up from Mars https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_Moons_eXploration https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_Moons_eXploration JAXA estimated mission cost: $417 million NASA estimated mission cost: $8 billion? https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13144292 https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13144292