Exploration

What this funds

Operations of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission were interrupted in December 2025 following an anomaly and loss of communication with the spacecraft. In the event that NASA concludes the mission cannot be recovered, NASA will assess funding needs for closing out the mission. A previously planned transition of the MAVEN mission management to ESDMD in FY 2027 (to enable ESDMD to maintain operations of surface communication relays and radiation monitoring) would Other Missions and Data Analysis includes mission planning and management, small missions in development, research and technology activities, funding for future Mars missions, and Mars operating missions. The operating projects include Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), Trace Gas Orbiter - ExoMars, and Mars Rover 2020. Mars Program Management provides for the broad-based implementation and programmatic management of the Mars Exploration Program. Mars Program Management also supports independent review panels, planetary protection studies, advanced mission and program architecture studies, program science, and coordination and integration of telecommunications between the Earth and Mars (including the Mars Mars Future Missions supports lower-cost, competitively selected missions and instruments that address both human exploration and science objectives. To maintain and advance U.S. leadership in Mars science exploration, a position that NASA has held for over 50 years, investment is required to strategically enable a flexible and scalable program to conduct priority science investigations on Mars in preparation for the arrival of human explorers. This investment will establish a regular cadence of science-driven, lower-cost mission and hosted instrument opportunities that allow for rapid response to discoveries. New initiatives will leverage industry and science partnerships with initial efforts focused on addressing Martian science objectives to advance the field of science and prepare for human exploration. One example, addressing surface transport mechanisms, will further our understanding of atmospheric evolution and current processes such as dust transport, and will inform and validate transport models to account for contamination from Earth systems. Partnerships with industry and science stakeholders will be achieved through competitive solicitations. Industry capabilities will be assessed for integration and will leverage commercial services to the hosted on NASA or partner-led missions to Mars, such as the new Commercial Mars Payload Services. A low-cost mission solicitation will be released in October 2026, targeting a 2030 launch, with a Mars Mission Operations provides management and leadership for the development and operation of Mars multi-mission systems for operations. Mars Mission Operations supports and provides common operational systems and capabilities at a lower cost and risk than having each Mars project produce Mars Research and Analysis (R&A) provides funding for research and analysis of Mars mission data to understand how geologic, atmospheric, and other processes have worked to shape Mars and its environment over time, as well as how they interact today. Mars R&A has invested in analysis of archived Mars mission data to produce critical products that prepare for the safe arrival, aero-maneuver, entry, descent, and landing of spacecraft on Mars. Data analysis through Mars R&A allows research to continue for many years after data collection and mission completion, increasing scientific understanding of Mars' past and present environments. Mars Technology focuses on technological investments that lay the groundwork for successful future Mars missions such as miniaturized telecommunication devices that enable lower-cost science missions, automated manufacturing of low-cost thermal protection system materials, and advanced legged-robotic-mobility elements for exploration of challenging Martian terrain. NASA will support studies and technology development in support of "Expanding the Horizons of Mars Science: A Plan for a Sustainable Science Program at Mars." Specific areas of near-term interest include advanced robotic surface and aerial commercial mobility systems; new developments in avionics, autonomy, and power; drilling and sample handling; telecommunications; and new techniques for Mars entry, descent, and landing. Investments in these areas are considered the initial steps of a "roadmap" for infrastructure investments to enable future missions. As part of these efforts, NASA will engage with U.S. industry and academia to leverage their unique and growing capabilities with these technologies. NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is characterizing the planet's geology and past climate, searching for signs of ancient microbial life on Mars, and collecting and storing carefully selected rock and sediment samples. One of these samples, collected from a rock called "Cheyava Falls" has potential biosignatures, chemical compounds and minerals that together may have been formed by past microbial life using reactions to produce energy for growth. During the Mars Rover 2020 prime mission, it tested new technologies to benefit future robotic missions and pave the way for human exploration of Mars. Subsequent missions could retrieve the sealed samples collected by Perseverance from the surface of Mars and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. Once returned to Earth, the Perseverance sample suite, including the Cheyava Falls sample, may provide answers to long-standing critical questions about Mars through more precise and in-depth laboratory analysis on Earth. The Perseverance rover is carrying a competitively selected science and technology payload of seven instruments. Five of the instruments provide the clearest possible measurements for seeking possible signs of ancient life (potential "biosignatures") on Mars over its 4.6-billion-year history. The remaining two instruments assess environmental hazards and resources for future human exploration. Perseverance also ferried a helicopter named Ingenuity, the first aircraft to achieve powered, controlled flight on another planet. The Mars Rover 2020 mission incorporates

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Contracts funded by this line

1214 linked contracts. These are obligations — lifetime awarded money — and they are not comparable to the request above and are never added to it. No total is shown: an award linked to several lines is counted in full on each, so the sum would not be a fact.

Showing 8 of 1214 — most confidently matched first, largest within a confidence tier. These are not necessarily the largest 8.

Confidence mix · 1214 certain

Linked contracts are a floor, not a census. Coverage is bounded by how distinctively a program is named and, for performer links, to RDT&E and Procurement — O&M and military construction publish no performers. Budget figures are FY2027 request dollars; contract figures are obligations. The two measure different things and must never be summed together.

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