In a significant development, an international team of scientists has put together detailed plans for a Mars mission to bring back samples of rock, and possibly microscopic life, from the surface of the Red planet. The mission, which is proposed for launch between 2018 and 2023 and could cost up to $ 8 billion, is the result of an eight-month study by 31 scientists from around the world. "This is going to be extremely expensive and no one space agency can afford it," said Professor Monica Grady, who co-chaired the expert panel that prepared the proposal. She said if "you can't bring a rock back you are not going to be able to bring people back".
The scientific community has been emboldened by the success of several recent missions to Mars, including Nasa's Phoenix lander, which touched down in May.

Grady and her colleagues presented the proposal to the International Mars Exploration Working Group (IMEWG) in Paris last week. The group is made up of delegates from national space agencies and puts together plans for future missions to the Red planet. "There's a real feeling that bringing samples back from Mars is absolutely essential if we are going to continue our Martian exploration programme," Grady was quoted as saying by The Guardian newspaper.

The British daily said sending people to Mars will probably not be possible before 2050, but if a crewed mission were ever to go ahead, scientists and engineers would need to demonstrate that it is possible to land a craft on the surface of Mars and bring it back to Earth safely. There have been seven successful landings on the Red Planet since the US spacecraft Mariner 4 flew past Mars for the first time in 1965, but no Lander has ever taken off from the surface again or brought anything back to Earth. Many researchers now believe that Mars once hosted a variety of wet environment with potential to support life.