{"id":369888,"date":"2026-03-28T14:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T14:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/369888\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T14:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T14:03:08","slug":"esa-member-states-call-for-cancellation-of-earth-return-orbiter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/369888\/","title":{"rendered":"ESA Member States Call for Cancellation of Earth Return Orbiter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ESA-Member-States-Call-for-Cancellation-of-Earth-Return-Orbiter.webp.webp\" alt=\"ESA Member States have called for the cancellation of the Earth Return Orbiter, with the agency beginning discussions with Airbus on repurposing elements of the mission.\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6273 lazyload\"  data- style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 800px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 800\/500;\"\/>Credit: Airbus<\/p>\n<p>European Space Agency Member States have called for the cancellation of the Earth Return Orbiter, a key element of plans to return samples from the surface of Mars.<\/p>\n<p>The Earth Return Orbiter was to be ESA\u2019s primary contribution to NASA\u2019s Mars Sample Return mission, responsible for capturing samples launched from the Martian surface and returning them to Earth. ESA awarded Airbus Defence and Space a \u20ac491 million contract in October 2020 to develop and deliver the Earth Return Orbiter.<\/p>\n<p>In September 2023, an independent NASA review board report stated that the Mars Sample Return mission\u2019s budget and schedule expectations were \u201cunrealistic.\u201d Following the completion of feasibility studies exploring alternative mission architectures, the US Senate voted in January 2026 to cut funding for the mission, effectively killing it.<\/p>\n<p>During a press conference following the U.S. Senate\u2019s decision to cut funding for the mission, ESA\u2019s Director of Human and Robotic Exploration, Daniel Neuenschwander, made the unambiguous statement that \u201cMars Sample Return is currently not planned to be continued.\u201d He did, however, not share how this would affect the development of ESA\u2019s main contribution to the mission, the Earth Return Orbiter.<\/p>\n<p>The uncertainty surrounding the future of the Earth Return Orbiter was addressed during a press conference following the 345th ESA Council meeting. Responding to a question about the funding shortfall in ESA\u2019s Exploration programme, Neuenschwander said that Member States had \u201casked for the cancellation of the Earth Return Orbiter mission.\u201d He added that the agency had begun discussions with the mission\u2019s prime contractor, Airbus Defence and Space, to manage the transition and to \u201cmaximise the return on investment on the reuse of some technology,\u201d citing the electric propulsion system as one element that could potentially be reused.<\/p>\n<p>        Keep European Spaceflight Independent<\/p>\n<p>Your donation will help European Spaceflight to continue digging into the stories others miss. Every euro keeps our reporting alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Airbus European Space Agency Member States have called for the cancellation of the Earth Return Orbiter, a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[13309,61,60,82,247],"class_list":["post-369888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-european-space-agency","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}