NASA selected the organizations who will be carrying out mission design studies for the Mars Sample Return rethink, and the US Space Force selected the first 3 bidders for the National Security Space Launch Program Phase 3 Lane 1.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 33 executive producers—Lee, Kris, Joel, Ryan, Russell, Steve, Theo and Violet, Better Every Day Studios, Joonas, Harrison, Pat from KC, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Josh from Impulse Space, Stealth Julian, SmallSpark Space Systems, Will and Lars from Agile Space, Tyler, Bob, Fred, Donald, Warren, The Astrogators at SEE, Jan, David, Matt, Benjamin, Pat, and four anonymous—and 817 other supporters.

Topics

• NASA Exploring Alternative Mars Sample Return Methods - NASA
• NASA selects seven companies for MSR studies - SpaceNews
• T+273: Mars Sample Return - Main Engine Cut Off
• Blue Origin, SpaceX, ULA win $5.6 billion in Pentagon launch contracts - SpaceNews
• T+254: Mars Sample Return, Vulcan, NSSL Phase 3 (with Eric Berger) - Main Engine Cut Off
• T+255: NSSL Phase 3 Addendum - Main Engine Cut Off

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