We're about to find out what's happening with NASA's beleaguered Mars Sample Return mission. In just a few hours – at 17:00 UTC / 13:00 EDT – NASA is going to host a media teleconference that sets out its recommendations for moving forward.

The mission has been ongoing for several years, with the deployment of the Perseverance rover in February 2021. Part of Perseverance's mission is to gather interesting samples of Martian rock to be collected by another mission and returned to Earth.

Last year, the future of the Mars sample return mission became shaky after an independent review determined that the program had "unrealistic budget and schedule expectations", an "unwieldy structure" and was "not arranged to be led effectively".