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 17 2007, 09:27 AM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 153 Joined: 11-December 04 Member No.: 120 |
Of course the points Doug mentions are valid and pretty serious drawbacks for the Direct-to-Earth approach.
However, there is (at least) one point in favor for it: ISRU, aka the Zubrin Fuel Processor. By far the greatest part of the mass of the return vehicle must be fuel, so if you can somehow land with empty tanks and then do a refill the whole plan makes more sense. You probably can't do DTE without ISRU. But even in a split mission approach ISRU could perhaps be an interesting option. There is also another issue with the split mission architecture. Is it really possible to automatically rendezvous with a completely passive cannister? Something that doesn't have a radio, position control, an energy source, etc... How do you know its orbit with enough accuracy? But if it can't be a passive cannister, how much hardware must be added before you can find it in orbit? What does that do to that 5 Kg mass number? Actually, I don't believe in such small numbers, it will probably be more like 100 Kg. At least. |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 28th May 2024 - 11:23 PM |
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