[X] My Assistant

[Guest_Zvezdichko_*]

Well, that's a tough question. What will happen, for example if Mars Phoenix fails to touch down successfully? Maybe I look a bit pessimistic, but I like to think in perspective. I think that:

1.If MSL managers give up the skycrane and decide to use Phoenix-like pinpoint landing system, it will effectively move the launch date from 2009 to 2011. Since there's no NASA orbiter planned for launch in 2009, maybe we won't have a new spacecraft then.

2. It will end the scout program or... the next scout mission will be a simple orbiter.

3. There will be several small landers in future, using the good old airbag bouncing method.

[djellison]

No - MER had no means to avoid hazards. The decent imaging motion estimation system ( dimes ) was there to calculate the speed of the spacecraft across the terrain so as to calculate which TIRS (Transverse Impulse Rockets) to fire when firing the RAD motors to tilt the vehicle over and cancel out as much of the wind-induced speed across the terrain.

It was not there to identify hazards and thus avoid them

Doug