Congress added $700 million in funding…

Congress added $700 million in funding for a “Mars Telecommunications Orbiter” in the supplemental funding for NASA provided by the “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed by the US Congress last year. Given the available funding, a number of people within the agency are pressing to include scientific instruments on the orbiter. Three good instruments could be added for about $200 million, a science official said. Ideas include everything from a high-resolution camera (again, badly needed since the best camera at Mars is on the 20-year-old Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter), a space weather payload, a magnetometer to understand Mars’ remnant magnetic field, or a spectrometer to look for near-surface water ice. It’s possible that some instruments from the canceled Mars Ice Mapper mission could also be repurposed or even a small lander included.