[X] My Assistant

[briv1016]

In case anyone doesn't know the 22nd MEPAG meeting is going on March 17th and 18th.

On the presentations posted for the first day there is one titled "Mars Sample Return (three element architecture)." On the 5th slide it states that during to the "Team X" study, the aeroshell was increased in diameter from 4.5m to 4.7m in order to accommodate both MAX-C and ExoMars together. I took a look at the specifications for the Atlas 5 launch vehicle and found on page 6-4 and 6-21 that the maximum diameter of the payload bay was 4.572m.

Is it possible to fit a 4.7m aeroshell in a 4.572m payload bay? I know this mission is still in the early planning stage and that these numbers should be taken with a huge grain of salt; but this looks like a pretty big oversight.

[briv1016]

This is going a little off topic so I apologize.

What I meant was that none of the Flagship missions coming out of the decadal come anywhere close to $1.2B. (The least expensive being the Enceladus Orbiter at $1.9B.) I think it's more likely that they'll choose a fifth New Frontiers mission instead, with any leftovers being folded into other missions or the DSN. I really hope I'm wrong.

(Keep in mind that the mission costs from the decadal are only CATE studies, not final mission costs.)

Edit: NF-6 not NF-5.

[djellison]

This is going a little off topic so I apologize.

What I meant was that none of the Flagship missions coming out of the decadal come anywhere close to $1.2B.

That's because the none of the mission were proposed that could do that, moreover, the Decadal survey was done with a budget in mind that is now clearly not going to be available. Plus - that's the NASA part of the project budget... the total expenditure would still be very very firmly in the $2B+ range.

Thus take the Max-C architecture and split it between US and ESA and it becomes affordable and the logical next mission going on the recommendations of the Decadal.

This new idea essentially gets both NASA and ESA a large stake in a flagship mission, and little more than New Frontiers costs to each.