Red Dragon Options

[Phil Stooke]

And let's not forget the spacecraft that flew and returned lots of times with hatches in its heatshield... the Space Shuttle. So it is certainly not out of the question.

Phil

[mcaplinger]

This thread has a good chance of degenerating into unrealistic speculation. Rather than comment, I think I'll just quote what user "Jim" over at NSF said:

I just want to say that this is a momentous event and I am glad it is happening. Just that some of the enthusiasm needs to tempered. Especially, when it comes to predicting events after 2018 and effects on other missions and hardware. The launch period is only two years away and FH hasn't flown and neither has Dragon 2. There is a lot of work ahead. We don't really know how long Spacex has be really working on this but remember it takes between 1-2 years just to plan a comsat launch.

[nprev]

^Agreed. Time to throttle this down more than a bit.

All we know right now is that SpaceX has declared its intention to land on Mars. Let's wait and see what comes next. It's entirely possible that this won't fly till 2020 or later given all the things that have to go right & happen on time.

[Steve G]

We have to be patient and wait until September for the juicy details. Is it going to be just a demonstration lander with short term batteries? Will it be more long term and deploy a solar panel from one of the hatches? Experiments? I'm not so patient but this sure is exciting and is doing this for a fraction than if it was stand alone start-from-scratch government mission. I'd love to see a trip or two to the Moon as well.

[Mercure]

With no time to build a new rover from scratch, perhaps fly a MER-C on Red Dragon?

See here:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40398.0

Seems it will fit through the top hatch, and that JPL perhaps has sufficient MER hardware in storage to build a third...

[mcaplinger]

JPL perhaps has sufficient MER hardware in storage to build a third...

Um, no.

[nprev]

There was a fairly thorough discussion of potential Red Dragon applications earlier in this thread.

I personally think that the first flight of this system will be largely focused on EDL data acquisition and vehicle performance assessment to the probable exclusion of any science objectives, esp. given the fact that the launch window is (barely) two years away. That is very little preparation time for almost any space mission (let alone a planetary landing) and thus there are a very large number of things that have to go perfectly for something of this complexity to meet the launch date at all, not the least of which being availability of the F9 Heavy booster.

So--expectation management. Let's see how this plays out.

[Steve G]

This is definitely not a science mission, but Elon may surprise us with some kind of novel experiment or two. This is the private sector, which we haven't seen before on the interplanetary theater, and they hold their cards close to the chest. Also being the private sector, things move quicker, bolder and with more guts than with government missions. Should be an interesting ride.

[dvandorn]

I could see pushing a "top hat" mast out of the top hatch of a landed Red Dragon that included a solar cell panel and maybe something like a camera (Mastcam? Pancam?) on a moving, aim-able platform, and/or a flight spare of ChemCam on the same or a similar moving platform. Things that don't need a rover's mobility to operate, and yet can return some decent science information about the landing site. And a package that perhaps could come off the shelf as flight spares from current active probes.

I'm sure there are a number of options being discussed right now, and if any science payload can be included and easily deployed, we'll likely hear about it in the next few months.

-the other Doug

[Explorer1]

No need for a mast Doug; the Dragon already has perfectly good windows!
Just mount a camera on the inside and you're good to go (assuming you want to look at wavelengths that are transparent through glass, of course).

[Paolo]

a hat window would not give you 360 degree coverage of the surrounding area. a mast will do

[James Sorenson]

Would it be pressurized during this mission? Because this is only a demonstration mission, I wouldn't load it with much of a payload at all. I do expect that there is quite a high probability of failure the first try. It's just part of life. It is bound to happen with something the first try. But hey, if it's a success, just makes it all the more spectacular. SpaceX has come as far as it has because of its failures, learning from those, and not giving up. The first Falcon 1 rockets ended in failure...That Lead to the Falcon 9. Only one failure has happened out of all the many successes it has had, and because of that failure it's more safer than ever before. I have to admit that I have lost track how many success exactly . Look at the barge landings. Took them quite a few "Rapid Disassembly Events" to get it right, now they basically have it down. So that's why Loading it with a full blown MER rover on the first mission or an expensive payload, I'm sorry to say is kind of laughable. But it's all up to SpaceX's decision on that. I do hope for some kind of small payload like a couple of camera's or weather station sensors. I just hope they don't put a lot into a payload on the first try.

[TheAnt]

Oh yes Space X have gotten quite a bit of the recognition they deserve for their persistence.

Now cameras, I cannot imagine that Space X would not fly the mission without a set of good cameras so that they will be able to show that they actually have managed a Mars landing.
But yes, there's quite a risk that the first attempt will be a failure.
So Musk, in case your Dragon take a fall and crack open, please do not have any big cheese inside this one thank you!

A weather station make good sense, one such will not necessarily us up much bandwith, so lets hope some university will get interested and propose one such for a high risk mission.

[climber]

Aviationweek May 23-June 5 2016, page 37:
"Space X Will decide what the payload Will be, but NASA has already developped a list of instruments and other gear it would like to send to Mars, if the company can accomodate them in 2018 window or later. Among them are Mars-weather sensors, instruments to analyse atmospheric dust,and experimental in situ resource utilisation gear."
Somewhere else they say they are thinking of the EDL been monitored by one of the rovers. I think Meridiani will be a crowded place very soon ...
They also say the agreement between Space X and Nasa covers a period untill 2022.

[Habukaz]

Somewhere else they say they are thinking of the EDL been monitored by one of the rovers. I think Meridiani will be a crowded place very soon ...

If I were Opportunity, I'd procure a helmet.