On January 15, the U.S. Senate approved a spending bill for NASA and science programs for fiscal year 2026, which that would reverse a large amount of the Trump Administration’s proposed severe cut of the NASA budget by 25%.
One crucial program that did not survive, however, is NASA’s Mars Sample Return (MSR) program. It is scheduled to no longer be funded. On February 18, 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars, touching down in the ancient river delta of Jezero Crater, after a seven-month journey, to search for signs of past life. Perseverance rover found in 2024 a promising potential sign that life had existed: an arrow-shaped rock, nicknamed Cheyava Falls. An initial analysis of the rock, located in a lake bed formation known as Bright Angel, revealed it was crammed with organic compounds, had evidence that water once flowed through it, and contained flecks of leopard-like spots from chemical reactions that ancient microbes could have used for energy. Microbes are among the oldest forms of life.
