[X] My Assistant

[karolp]

Hello again,

With the Martian airplane concept becoming sort of abandoned these days, I just wonder if a Martian CHOPPER was ever considered. With the capability of MRO I guess we do not need airborn instruments dedicated to imaging there. But: what about chemical measurements and "sniffing" for volatiles? Imagine something that could land at one spot found to be interesting on MRO photos and then take off and go sniffing for methane somewhere else? What do you think? Does it make any sense to you?

Regards,

Karol P.

Poland

[ngunn]

Very interesting. How do people rate these ideas? Should they be taken seriously? I can't see any obvious reason why not. Using in-situ resources for both baloon-filling gas and power seems very appealing, almost too good to be true - but maybe it's just too good not to try?

[karolp]

Actually, balloons were not only considered. They were built by the French for the Russians but the mission ended up exploring the bottom of Earth's ocean. It it were not so, and if Mars Observer didn't fail, we would have remembered it as the first orbiter to relay data from a balloon dragging a "snake" on the surface:

"Mars Observer was also to support the acquisition of data from the Russian Mars 1994 mission through the use of the joint French-Russian-American Mars BALLOON Relay instrument."

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/Master...og?sc=1992-063A

And:

"The design and utilization plans for the Mars Balloon guiderope are described with attention given to environmental and mission constraints. The guiderope is intended to enable the balloon to fly close to the Martian surface to sample the surface and near-surface atmosphere. The 'Snake' concept is described for this application which comprises overlapping cones that provide a smooth dragging surface as well as structural flexibility. A 'tail' segment of small diameter is attached to the Snake that stabilizes the guiderope with titanium shells and also serves as half of the required radar dipole antenna. A specific design is set forth for the Snake and Tail elements that provides dust-tolerant effectiveness without lubricant for the extreme conditions of the Martian surface. The resulting guiderope for the Mars 96 Balloon Mission is expected to render the exploratory mission effective."

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1992wadc.iafcY....L

[ynyralmaen]

... They were built by the French for the Russians but the mission ended up exploring the bottom of Earth's ocean.

Just to be pedantic, it's often stated that Mars 96 ended up in the Pacific, but it actually came down in Bolivia or surrounding territories; several people at ESO observed it descend.

10 years may have blurred the details, but as I recall... The confusion over its final resting place is probably caused by the fact that NORAD announced it was tracking the spacecraft after it failed to leave Earth orbit, and, if I recall correctly, the US offered help to Australia if the spacecraft with its plutonium power supplies landed on their territory. They then announced that it had re-entered "safely" over the Pacific. It was later realized that NORAD had been tracking the final stage, and that Mars-96 itself had already detached and had re-entered the Earth atmosphere over the Andes. No-one offered Bolivia help with the clear-up though, and as far as I know, the debris has not been located.

It was a huge loss... the most massive interplanetary spacecraft ever launched; even exceeding Cassini's mass.