Which is why it's a shame that the caching capability was left of Curosity (to contain cost, as I understand)
The cacher that was supposed to go on Curiosity....
For me - layman getting news from space websites and forums - it was a lot more sinister than that.MSL then had serious problems with money - and someone wanted to put some fancy, costly and useless bondoogle on it, getting away with it only because money for cacher was from different pot. I was rather... annoyed with this and thought this money would be better spend helping MSL's financial troubles instead of making toy destined to stroke Stern's ego. Fortunately, someone saner axed it.
For instance, you might want a broader range of samples rather than a high probability of getting just one kind of sample.
daheck does Orion have to do with it...And actually, doesn't need SLS. Other launch vehicles would work.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 12/10/2012 11:37 pmdaheck does Orion have to do with it...And actually, doesn't need SLS. Other launch vehicles would work.Politics. Get an Orion mission around Mars, which proves the systems, and then you have a goal to finally land people on the moon. That's all.Not a snowball's chance, I know, but still intriguing.
Well, if it were a manned orbital Mars mission, I could see Orion being used (in addition to Deep space hab and propulsion unit). Not otherwise, though. Way too pointless to send Orion.
Very good series of posts.What I was talking about was using a human orbital mission to Mars that would happen anyway (not THAT unrealistic) to simply retrieve a MSR canister in Mars orbit. If you happened to have a manned mission to Mars orbit, how difficult would it be to retrieve a canister that happened to also be in Mars orbit around that timeframe?
Quote from: Robotbeat on 12/11/2012 10:24 pmVery good series of posts.What I was talking about was using a human orbital mission to Mars that would happen anyway (not THAT unrealistic) to simply retrieve a MSR canister in Mars orbit. If you happened to have a manned mission to Mars orbit, how difficult would it be to retrieve a canister that happened to also be in Mars orbit around that timeframe? If you want something done right, you better do it yourself. Meaning, if the science community really wants sample return from Mars, they should (and would) plan for all parts of the mission themselves. It would be folly to do the first steps and then expect the human program to finish the job, for the simple reason that if the human program runs into trouble, the first thing they will dump overboard is any requirement that they did not generate themselves, such as the requirement to retrieve samples.There are lots of examples of this in the past, but the best and most obvious one is the International Space Station. When ISS went way over-budget in 2002/3 NASA was told to get the costs under control and to cap the overall cost. Goldin was kicked out and O'Keefe brought in to do this. The solution was to toss overboard all of the science equipment and plans then in the pipeline.
Personally, If you want sample return done right, it would be cheapest to send a geologist and have him pack the samples for return. And if he stays behind, that's 180lbs of extra samples
f you want something done right, you better do it yourself. Meaning, if the science community really wants sample return from Mars, they should (and would) plan for all parts of the mission themselves, .. for the simple reason that if the human program runs into trouble, the first thing they will dump overboard is any requirement that they did not generate themselves, such as the requirement to retrieve samples.There are lots of examples of this ... When ISS went way over-budget in 2002/3 NASA was told to get the costs under control and to cap the overall cost. Goldin was kicked out and O'Keefe brought in to do this. The solution was to toss overboard all of the science equipment and plans then in the pipeline.