Due to active support from The Planetary Society and our members, Congress provided an additional $75 million for technology development for the Mars program last year, though NASA has still not requested a "new start" for the next phase of the sample return campaign.

Speaking of sample return, the report also examined NASA's progress toward addressing the top recommendation of the decadal survey: a caching rover to start a sample return campaign from Mars. The Mars 2020 rover is deemed to fully meet those recommendations by including a full suite of in-situ scientific instrumentation and a sample caching and preparation system at ⅔ the cost of the original decadal estimate.

As for the follow-on mission necessary to retrieve and launch those samples, NASA has yet to commit to a mission. Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, the Associate Administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, stated last year that NASA's intent is to pursue the next phase of sample return no earlier than 2026, using a "lean" architecture that focuses on returning samples and engaging international partners in the effort.

The report blesses this effort, recommending that: