Esa Aurora Rover - Still Planned For 2009? |
Esa Aurora Rover - Still Planned For 2009? |
Dec 20 2004, 03:45 PM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 36 Joined: 9-February 04 Member No.: 14 |
All the talk about Phoenix and MSL reminded me, isn’t ESA planning a rover for 2009?
Is 2009 still the planned launch year? Any info about its capabilities? How will it compare to MSL? What sort of EDL is it going to use? |
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Dec 20 2004, 03:56 PM
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Rover Driver Group: Members Posts: 1015 Joined: 4-March 04 Member No.: 47 |
these are the most recent things I could find right now
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMVQWXO4HD_Expanding_0.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/eu...rs.html?2322004 I don't think they know yet |
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Dec 20 2004, 04:16 PM
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#3
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14432 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
To be honest - it's unlikely to go ahead. It would be slightly larger than MER - solar powered - and have a payload a little more like MSL called 'Pasteur' - for biology research.
However imho - before dedicating E500m+ to it, they need to prove they can do ANY EDL to mars with a Beagle follow up - in the mould of Netlander. Doug |
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Dec 20 2004, 05:44 PM
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4404 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
It kind of suprises me that there is no test mission such as you describe planned. I hope the Europeans can get something to Mars this decade. I also wish the Russians would send some of those penetrators they sent on Mars '96. I have always thought that pride keeps them from getting back in the game. The only mission they have in the works is the Phobos-Grunt Phobos sample return mission, which will probably never fly. If they were willing to fly a small scale mission, with a flyby bus and copies of the Mars '96 penetrators, they could cheaply return to Mars and get a lot of science, assuming that the U.S. and European probes already in place would provide a data relay.
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