A lunar sample-return mission that was among the three finalists in the 2011 NASA competition that punched Osiris-Rex’s ticket to an asteroid will make another bid for $1 billion in funding in the agency’s next New Frontiers competition, the mission’s principal investigator said.

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Dan Leone is the NASA reporter for SpaceNews, where he also covers other civilian-run U.S. government space programs and a growing number of entrepreneurial space companies. He joined SpaceNews in 2011.Dan earned a bachelor's degree in public communications...