Mars Sample Return |
Mars Sample Return |
Apr 7 2006, 07:32 AM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 370 Joined: 12-September 05 From: France Member No.: 495 |
Next phase reached in definition of Mars Sample Return mission
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMJAGNFGLE_index_0.html |
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Aug 19 2007, 04:09 AM
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#2
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8784 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
This may be WAY off base, but has anyone considered a purely ballistic MSR mission profile?
What I'm thinking of here is a single-stage (or two at the most, if the upper stage has robust thrusters & agile nav capability) DTE reentry vehicle from the surface of Mars...minimal course correction requirements, tight launch window, maybe even solid-fueled at least for the initial boost phase. Advantages: Relatively simple G&C. Disadvantages: (1) very tight launch window, (2) probably high velocity wrt Earth for entry phase. Don't know without a formal risk analysis how these very coarse factors would play out, nor whatever other dragons there may be. (BTW, thinking of grams, not kilograms, in terms of sample return quantities: even a very little bit of Mars would go a long. long way in terms of answering fundamental/nagging questions such as the presence or absence of superoxides, carbon abundance/source, iridium ratios, etc., etc., ...) -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Oct 18 2007, 08:37 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2520 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
even a very little bit of Mars would go a long. long way in terms of answering fundamental/nagging questions such as the presence or absence of superoxides, carbon abundance/source, iridium ratios, etc... Many of these questions could be far more cost-effectively answered with in situ measurements than by sample return, and some of the others could be answered by a much simpler SCIM-type mission. And some we more or less know already from the SNCs. Frankly, because of the fundamental energetic difficulties and the valid-or-not "Andromeda Strain" concerns, I'm a little surprised that people are still seriously talking about Mars sample return as a likely mission for the foreseeable future. -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
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