Thanks for those. I've often wondered if we would be better off as far human exploration is concerned visiting the Martian moons rather than Mars itself.
I am surprised the Phobos Monolith wasn't mentioned, although I'm sure it'd end up being investigated.
It's encouraging to see ESA and JAXA are taking the robotic missions seriously. If the Phootprint (or whatever it is named) takes off, it looks like it would haul back ten times as much as MME would (of course both are still in grams). I didn't see much specified for surface instrumentation but, then again, these would be samples returned to a dedicated lab on Earth.
Quote from: redliox on 07/19/2016 09:54 pmI am surprised the Phobos Monolith wasn't mentioned, although I'm sure it'd end up being investigated.It was. I didn't get a photo of that slide. The guy showed a LOT of slides and it was difficult to keep up.It was a very interesting presentation. I was impressed with the work they've done, and I've been around the block enough times to know that a lot of talk about sending humans to Mars is just blowing smoke.
Quote from: Blackstar on 07/19/2016 10:31 pmQuote from: redliox on 07/19/2016 09:54 pmI am surprised the Phobos Monolith wasn't mentioned, although I'm sure it'd end up being investigated.It was. I didn't get a photo of that slide. The guy showed a LOT of slides and it was difficult to keep up.It was a very interesting presentation. I was impressed with the work they've done, and I've been around the block enough times to know that a lot of talk about sending humans to Mars is just blowing smoke.I don't suppose there are any theories about the Phobos Monolith? And I mean the serious ones not alien quack cracks.
Quote from: redliox on 07/19/2016 09:54 pmIt's encouraging to see ESA and JAXA are taking the robotic missions seriously. If the Phootprint (or whatever it is named) takes off, it looks like it would haul back ten times as much as MME would (of course both are still in grams). I didn't see much specified for surface instrumentation but, then again, these would be samples returned to a dedicated lab on Earth.The ESA mission was referred to as a 1 billion Euro mission, or about $1.3 billion US dollars. The JAXA mission, I think, was referred to as a $330 million mission. Considering that they do the same thing, I'm skeptical of the JAXA costs. That said, different countries do their accounting differently, so I always caution about making comparisons like this.
Quote from: Blackstar on 07/19/2016 10:33 pmQuote from: redliox on 07/19/2016 09:54 pmIt's encouraging to see ESA and JAXA are taking the robotic missions seriously. If the Phootprint (or whatever it is named) takes off, it looks like it would haul back ten times as much as MME would (of course both are still in grams). I didn't see much specified for surface instrumentation but, then again, these would be samples returned to a dedicated lab on Earth.The ESA mission was referred to as a 1 billion Euro mission, or about $1.3 billion US dollars. The JAXA mission, I think, was referred to as a $330 million mission. Considering that they do the same thing, I'm skeptical of the JAXA costs. That said, different countries do their accounting differently, so I always caution about making comparisons like this.Thanks, did they mention about the time scale of the ESA mission? I can see the presentations give the previously assumed launch dates but I've seen it mentioned they had delayed putting the mission forward for a few years because of Exomars.
The ESA mission was referred to as a 1 billion Euro mission, or about $1.3 billion US dollars. The JAXA mission, I think, was referred to as a $330 million mission. Considering that they do the same thing, I'm skeptical of the JAXA costs. That said, different countries do their accounting differently, so I always caution about making comparisons like this.
Any chance we can see the above presentations as pdfs sometime, somewhere?
The ESA/Russian mission appears to be more ambitious. For example, a capable long-lived lander would be left on Phobos after the departure of the sample return craft. More capability plus a lower tolerance for risk will result in a higher cost.
The JAXA mission is also more focused on the sample return and the only things they will include have to enhance that part of the mission (although they will image Deimos). The ESA mission is a comprehensive one.
It was a very interesting presentation. I was impressed with the work they've done, and I've been around the block enough times to know that a lot of talk about sending humans to Mars is just blowing smoke.