Amount of fuel onboard, Potential life expectancy? |
Amount of fuel onboard, Potential life expectancy? |
Jul 1 2008, 05:53 AM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 239 Joined: 18-December 07 From: New York Member No.: 3982 |
Assuming that there are no MGS type anomalies and funding holds out (according to NASA's FY09 budget, the current extension ends in September); how much longer can Odyssey remain operational with the fuel onboard?
(I know you guys are strict about starting new threads, but I couldn't find any other thread related to this topic.) |
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Jul 6 2008, 05:26 PM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 220 Joined: 13-October 05 Member No.: 528 |
I rather doubt having 3 operational orbiters and 3 landers is something that is likely to be the norm for the next decade.
Aside from the fact that Mars Express was a one-shot mission, I think the main culprit is cost. Looking at the ballpark cost figures for the Mars missions, MGS - 250 million Mars Odyssey - 300 million MER - 800 million MRO - 700 million Mars Phoenix (scout) - 400 million (really closer to 500 when you consider they got the base spacecraft for free). Then looking at the future (that is far from set in stone, and is shifting as we speak) MSL - 1.9 billion Mars Scout 2011 (now 2013) - 425 million MSO 2013 (now 2016 +) - 700 million Mars Exobiology Rover - 1.5 billion Mars Networking mission - 1 billion plus Roughly speaking, we seem to have left an era where the mission costs were 300-700 million, and went into one where they are 450 - 1.5 billion. In other words, we got our current infrastructure at mission costs roughly half what the upcoming missions look likely to cost. So, while on the surface of things it makes sense to argue to "keep the mission rate up", the problem is that the upcoming missions are much more expensive. If we were talking Mars Surveyor and Mars Scout missions, it might be possible under the NASA budgets. But I just don't see how they can keep launching a mission every 26 months if they keep increasing the cost per mission. |
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