MSL "Heat shield woes" |
MSL "Heat shield woes" |
Feb 17 2008, 04:20 PM
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#1
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
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Feb 25 2008, 06:07 AM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1870 Joined: 20-February 05 Member No.: 174 |
"...Cassini was originally supposed to be the first mission using the Mariner Mark II series ..."
JPL Director Bruce Murray <I think> had a major article in Science magazine in the mid 80's explaining in detail how the newly concieved Mariner Mark II program would provide the basis for continuing low cost planetary exploration. Mission costs <I think> were to be well sub-1-Billion-$, achieved in part by reusing modifications on a common spacecraft bus, much the way Mariners 69, 71, 73 and Viking Orbiters had massive design heritage. The first missions were to be Comet Rendezvous / Asteroid Flyby CRAF and Cassini. Well.... as the mission pair cost past umpteen billion, CRAF was nuked and Cassini was descoped to (among other things) a No-Scan-Platform mission. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" I'd really like to see the story of how Mariner Mark II went form good intentions to budget control hell. Watching MSL, I'm getting massive deja vu. |
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Feb 25 2008, 07:20 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2542 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
I'd really like to see the story of how Mariner Mark II went form good intentions to budget control hell. One big reason is that the Cassini and CRAF missions were not really very similar, so the idea of sharing a common spacecraft was not that valid to start with. As I have pointed out before when these "common spacecraft" discussions come up, there is huge commonality at the box level. Regardless of how different spacecraft may look on the outside, much of the guts are built out of catalog items. -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
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Feb 25 2008, 08:31 PM
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#4
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4404 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
There was also the problem of NASA's budget not being able to support Mariner Mark II missions at a rate that would make the "assembly line" advantage practical.
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