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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Oct 19 2007, 12:59 AM
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#2
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Hate to even bring this up, but it sure seems like we might need to fly a pathfinder technology demonstration mission before committing to the real deal...and the nasty part here is that there's no place to do it & gain any value at all in engineering terms but Mars itself.
Aside from the truly formidible problems of designing a MAV, there are a bunch of other systemic complexities and event dependencies to consider, far more IMHO than in any other UMSF effort to date. I wonder if a high-risk Discovery-class mission could designed to send a few grams back of any random Martian surface material as a bonus; the real value would be assessing the performance of all these subsystems. -------------------- 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 19 2007, 01:26 AM
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#3
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 99 Joined: 17-September 07 Member No.: 3901 |
Hate to even bring this up, but it sure seems like we might need to fly a pathfinder technology demonstration mission before committing to the real deal...and the nasty part here is that there's no place to do it & gain any value at all in engineering terms but Mars itself. Aside from the truly formidible problems of designing a MAV, there are a bunch of other systemic complexities and event dependencies to consider, far more IMHO than in any other UMSF effort to date. I wonder if a high-risk Discovery-class mission could designed to send a few grams back of any random Martian surface material as a bonus; the real value would be assessing the performance of all these subsystems. Maybe launch the MAV from a high-altitude balloon above earth, to simulate the atmospheric density on Mars. It wouldn't reach orbit, but the trajectory would tell how well it worked. NASA has considered a bare-bones "scoop of dirt" mission. It is a tough decision to spend all that money without sending science instruments and/or a rover and/or a rock drill. |
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