Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

US Mars mission takes pole position

Nature volume 471, pages 146–147 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Sample-return trip to go ahead, but only if costs can be cut.

A showdown over the course of Solar System exploration has ended with a qualified victory for Mars. NASA's planetary-science decadal survey, which sets mission priorities for 2013–22, firmly favours a mission to Mars over a rival one to Jupiter's icy moon Europa (see Nature 466, 168–169; 2010). But the decision marks the beginning of a much bigger battle: to secure the budget to lift the multibillion-dollar project off the survey's pages and into the heavens.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Committee on the Planetary Science Decadal Survey Space Studies Board Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, National Research Council of the National Academies Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022 (National Academies, 2011); available at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13117

Download references

Authors
  1. Adam Mann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Related links

Related links

Related external links

NASA's planetary decadal survey

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mann, A. US Mars mission takes pole position. Nature 471, 146–147 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/471146a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/471146a

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing