Why should the probes need to be the same?
The argument is not applicable either way. Space station elements are not interplanetary spacecraft
In a grocery bag, I can put apples or oranges, or a combination thereof.
Quote from: JohnFornaro on 09/03/2010 07:16 pmQuoteJPL can only do one large science spacecraft at a time...And these old dogs can't learn the now trick of doing four quarter sized spacecraft at a time? Or is it rather that they won't consider the idea in the first place?The nature of the various objections seems to be an objection of will for the most part. The alternative will not be discussed. Therefore it can not be attempted.Well, there's yer answer Lobo. It would appear that we'll have to wait til someone at JPL comes up with the idea. Then, it will have been invented there.wrong, wrong, wrongWhen I said " one large science spacecraft", I am talking about Titan IV/Delta IV heavy class spacecraft, Cassini, MSL, JWST, etc., which is the "quarter sized spacecraft" you are referring to.Now you want to do four of these at once. Need more assembly buildings, test facilities, thermal vac chambers, etcThat is what I meant by "overwhelm our facilities " It has nothing to do with the institutions and the organizations.
QuoteJPL can only do one large science spacecraft at a time...And these old dogs can't learn the now trick of doing four quarter sized spacecraft at a time? Or is it rather that they won't consider the idea in the first place?The nature of the various objections seems to be an objection of will for the most part. The alternative will not be discussed. Therefore it can not be attempted.Well, there's yer answer Lobo. It would appear that we'll have to wait til someone at JPL comes up with the idea. Then, it will have been invented there.
JPL can only do one large science spacecraft at a time...
That seems to imply that the apples & oranges will be going to the same house (planet).Although they could easily go to different fruit bowls (moons) once they reach the house (planet).
The larger vehicle, combined with multiple probes on similar platforms, might be able to send, say, four probes to Saturn. Each sub-mission profile would look more carefully at a subset of the moons, the rings, and the surface weather patterns, say. The bandwidth would be four times higher, since probes could time their various orbital insertions and data transmission times. It would open up quite a different way of going about robotic surveying missions.
I don't know what the timeline for constructing these things is either, but it is clear that probe 1 can sit in a warehouse until probe 4 is finished. The ideal timeline would be that probes 1 thru "x" can be ready to go in exactly the time needed to build the new LV.
So was Viking 1 probe or 2?