$1,598,516,202
National Aeronautics and Space Administration·National Aeronautics and Space Administration
to CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
aerospaceactive
ACTION DATE—·SOURCEUSASPENDING·SOURCE IDCONT_AWD_80NM0021F0008_8000_80NM0018D0004_8000
Award description
MARS SAMPLE RETURN (MSR) PROGRAM - PHASE A 40-108270
Verbatim from USAspending.gov. Capitalization, abbreviations, and codes are unchanged.
The Buildout's read
What the model surfaced from this award
Confidence: high
In plain English
Funds Phase A development of the Mars Sample Return program to retrieve Martian rock samples for Earth analysis.
Sub-sectors
space-explorationplanetary-sciencesample-return-missions
Why this matters
MSR is a flagship NASA mission demonstrating advanced space capabilities and expanding scientific understanding of Mars habitability.
Supply-chain signal
Drives demand for specialized aerospace contractors, robotics systems, sample containment technology, and deep-space propulsion suppliers.
U.S.–China competition angle
U.S. lunar and Mars exploration leadership counters China's advancing space program and demonstrates technological superiority in planetary missions.
Generated by award_classification v1.0.0 via claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 on 2026-05-13. Cost: $0.001335.
Period of performance
Start
2020-12-17
End
2028-09-24
Status
activein 864 days
Other awards from this recipient
- —DEEP SPACE NETWORK (DSN) THE CONTRACT IS THE SPONSORING AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA) AND THE CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (CONTRACTOR), A PRIVATE NONPROFIT EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION, WHICH ESTABLISHES THE RELATIONSHIP FOR THE OPERATION OF THE FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER (FFRDC) KNOWN AS THE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY. THE CONTRACTOR, JPL, IS REQUIRED TO PERFORM WORK THAT IS DESIGNATED IN TASK ORDERS ISSUED BY THE NASA MANAGEMENT OFFICE (NMO) CONTRACTING OFFICERS. NASA - SPONSORED WORK: JPL'S PRIMARY MISSION IS TO SUPPORT THE NASA SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE (SMD) IN CARRYING OUT THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES IDENTIFIED IN THE SMD SCIENCE PLAN. THE FOUR BROAD SCIENTIFIC AREAS ARE: EARTH SCIENCE, PLANETARY SCIENCE, HELIOPHYSICS, AND ASTROPHYSICS. IN PERFORMANCE OF THIS CONTRACT, JPL SHALL: 1) SUPPLY A BROAD BASE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES RELEVANT TO NASA PROGRAM AND PROJECT RESPONSIBILITIES AND ASSIGNMENTS. 2) FOSTER ITS UNIQUE RELATIONSHIP WITH A TOP-TIER UNIVERSITY TO FACILITATE THE INVOLVEMENT OF SCIENTISTS, ENGINEERS, AND STUDENTS FROM THE UNIVERSITY AND RESEARCH COMMUNITIES IN NASA MISSION AND IN SUPPORTING OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. 3) SUPPORT NASA IN ENABLING PROGRAM AND INSTITUTIONAL CAPABILITIES. 4) DEVELOP SPACECRAFT AND INSTRUMENTS THAT ARE SENT TO VARIOUS DESTINATIONS WITH OUR SOLAR SYSTEM, INCLUDING EARTH ORBIT, PLANETS, PLANETARY SATELLITES, ASTEROIDS, AND COMETS. THESE MISSIONS MAY BE ORBITERS, LANDERS, OR ROVERS, AND TYPICALLY INCLUDE CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGIES REQUIRED TO MEET SCIENTIFIC REQUIREMENTS. 5) PERFORM PROJECT TASKS INVOLVING: (I) AUTONOMOUS DEEP-SPACE, INNER-SPACE AND EARTH-ORBITING SPACECRAFT OR MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS, (II) EXPERIMENTS, INSTRUMENTS, OR OTHER DEVICES WHICH MAY BE CARRIED AS PAYLOAD ON SPACECRAFTS IN MISSIONS MANAGED BY OTHERS, AND/OR (III) GROUND-BASED SYSTEMS. 6) BEYOND ITS PRIMARY MISSION, JPL MAY PERFORM WORK FOR OTHER NASA MISSION DIRECTORATES OR OFFICES. 7) JPL IS ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR THE OPERATION, RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY INSERTION, AND MANAGEMENT OF NASA S DEEP SPACE NETWORK TO PROVIDE TELECOMMUNICATION AND OPERATION SERVICES, INCLUDING DATA ACQUISITION AND DATA DELIVERY REQUIRED TO MEET ESTABLISHED AGENCY OBJECTIVES. 8) JPL IS ALSO REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN AND CONDUCT AN EDUCATION PROGRAM IN CLOSE COORDINATION WITH THE NASA HEADQUARTERS EDUCATION OFFICE, THE ACADEMIC COMMUNITY AT LARGE, AND IN SUPPORT TO NASA STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES TO IMPROVE STUDENT RETENTION IN THE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) DISCIPLINES. WORK FOR NON-NASA SPONSORS: JPL MAY PERFORM WORK FOR NON-NASA SPONSORS. THIS WORK WILL BE DESIGNATED IN TASK ORDERS ISSUED BY NMO CONTRACTING OFFICERS BASED ON TASK PLANS INITIATED BY THE CONTRACTOR.$1.5B
- —NEAR EARTH OBJECT SURVEYOR (NEO SURVEYOR) PROJECT (71-107722)$855.9M
- —SPHEREX:AN ALL-SKY SPECTRAL SURVEY 71-700089$269.3M
- —SURFACE BIOLOGY & GEOLOGY (SBG): PRE-PHASE A AND PHASE A PLAN$197.7M
- —MARS PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AND FUTURE PLANNING 60-8583$193.2M
Sources
- USAspending.gov — all awards for this UEI →
- SAM.gov entity registration →
- Award record ingested from usaspending. Source identifier CONT_AWD_80NM0021F0008_8000_80NM0018D0004_8000.
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