NASA HAS JUST TWO MARS SAMPLE RETURN MISSION LANDER OPTIONS LEFT

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

NASA will need until 2026 before making a final decision on how the Mars Sample Return mission will work. The space agency has whittled the options to two: use the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which would employ the sky crane technology to deposit a lander on the surface of the red planet, or use a commercial vendor to get a lander to Mars. The plan relies on the Perseverance trundlebot being able to make it to the lander. The JPL option would cost between $6.6 billion and $7.7 billion, while the commercial providers may cost between $5.8 billion and $7.1 billion. NASA has not provided details on what the commercial vendors suggested due to proprietary information concerns.