NASA's mission to return samples from Mars and potentially discover the first signs of alien life has a new timeline. The samples may arrive sooner.

Dozens of samples of rock and sediment collected from Mars that could be used to detect ancient microbial life could be returned to Earth as soon as 2035 and as late as 2039, depending on the course of the next few months, NASA announced Tuesday.

The Mars Sample Return mission has been ranked as the highest priority by planetary scientists, who hope to find signs of ancient life on Mars.

NASA is pitching a cheaper and quicker way of getting rocks and soil back from Mars, after seeing its original plan swell to $11 billion. Administrator Bill Nelson presented a revised scenario Tuesday,

NASA has arrived at two ways of returning samples collected on Mars to Earth. Now, the agency will test the options to see if the cache can make it back in the 2030s.

Bringing Martian rock and soil samples to Earth is among the top priorities of planetary scientists. By studying fresh rocks up close with the latest, most powerful instruments in their laboratories,

NASA has unveiled two revamped plans to bring Mars samples to Earth in the 2030s, reducing costs by nearly half from its initial $11 billion proposal while expediting the timeline.