Next On Mars Article, Long promised article by Bruce Moomaw Options

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

Given that the planned operating lifetime of the first MTO in Mars orbit is supposed to be at least 9 years, the risk of it breaking down between a first failed MSL in 2011 and the launch and arrival of a second one 4 years later is not very great. The MTOs will be made to last, so the odds are much greater that the first MTO would fail during launch or at Mars orbit insertion.

And, yes, MRO -- thanks to its low-altitude polar orbit that would fly over MSL only briefly twice a day -- would return only a very small fraction of the daily data return they'll get if an MTO is operational. (I believe the figure is about 10%.) Ditto for Odyssey and Mars Express if they're still functioning then.

The Strategic Roadmap Committee did express some interest in the possibility of bumping the first MTO up from 2009 to 2007, but was told that this would require a large new boost in Mars program funding -- at precisely the time when the MSL itself may run into developmental problems. (It is, after all, the most complex Solar System probe since Cassini, and there is already a lot of apprehension as to whether all 10 experiments -- or even all of the top-priority 6 -- can really be crammed onto it.)