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0 pointsNitpickLawyer4mo ago0 comments

> Because launching a robot is a multi billion dollar affair

They don't have to be though. Spirit and Opportunity entire project budget (including design, building, launching, and operating for 90 days) was 820M. Even with the mission extensions the total cost is < 1B. And a lot of things have changed since then. Launches are cheaper, tech has improved and some recent missions have proven that even CotS hardware can exceed expectations (see the helicopter).

I would love to see NASA do something like the CLPS but for Mars. They could pay for launch services (which are way cheaper now with F9 / NG), and help with EDL (using the same parachute + airbags thing that has worked before), and leave the rover parts to 3rd parties.

We could have universities join the competition, building the rovers, exploring CotS stuff, autonomous driving and so on. Lower stakes than the decadal big rovers (Curiosity & Perseverance), but also cool and useful to train the next generations of students. Hell, I bet even companies could enter the race, with Toyota / Tesla / whoever else supporting this effort.

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Teever3mo ago

What I'd like to see is a stationary lab / communication relay that processes samples that are brought to it by a variety of rovers that can be launched with the lab or in other missions.

It would be neat to see different companies, schools, or nations come up with variations on the rovers that only need to support the common interface of passing materials to the lab for analysis.

You could even drop more labs and build a network of them and expanding the range of your little rover nodes.

Once you have a decent rover design sorted out you can work on mass producing it and achieving economies of scale.

dylan6044mo ago

> They could pay for launch services (which are way cheaper now with F9 / NG)

Are either of the rockets mentioned capable of launching a payload to Mars? The Tesla was launched on a Heavy which is 3 F9s. While maybe cheaper than a Shuttle launch, it's still at least 3x the F9 you're suggesting

NitpickLawyerOP4mo ago

Yes. F9 has a catalog payload to mars of 4020 kg [1] and Spirit and Opportunity had a total mass of 1,063 kg [2] each. So an F9 launch could easily launch 3 similar missions on a single rocket (the MERs were launched separately on Delta II rockets). Squeeze out some weight (material advances, fuel optimisations, better transfer windows, etc) and you could probably get 4.

Anyway, in a CLPS type program you could also cover kickstage development, like some of the new companies are proposing. Impulse Space is working in that area, developing intermediary stages that can take payloads from LEO to GEO, TLI and TMI.

[1] - https://www.spacex.com/assets/media/Capabilities&Services.pd...

[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Exploration_Rover

nine_k4mo ago

A Falcon Heavy launch is about 30% more expensive than a Falcon 9 launch, given the reusable mode. I suppose it's the servicing the launch that costs most, not the fuel or insurance premia.

DemocracyFTW24mo ago

I like that idea, would you volunteer to convince Musk to personally do a Full Self-Driving demo on Mars? Teslas would sell like hotcakes, tell him that. One can still hope.

nine_k4mo ago

No pedestrians. No traffic. No traffic signs and rules. No hurry. Self-driving on Mars should be a piece of cake, compared to SF.

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0 pointsNitpickLawyer4mo ago0 comments

> Because launching a robot is a multi billion dollar affair

0 comments

Teever3mo ago

What I'd like to see is a stationary lab / communication relay that processes samples that are brought to it by a variety of rovers that can be launched with the lab or in other missions.

It would be neat to see different companies, schools, or nations come up with variations on the rovers that only need to support the common interface of passing materials to the lab for analysis.

You could even drop more labs and build a network of them and expanding the range of your little rover nodes.

Once you have a decent rover design sorted out you can work on mass producing it and achieving economies of scale.

dylan6044mo ago

> They could pay for launch services (which are way cheaper now with F9 / NG)

NitpickLawyerOP4mo ago

[1] - https://www.spacex.com/assets/media/Capabilities&Services.pd...

[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Exploration_Rover

nine_k4mo ago

A Falcon Heavy launch is about 30% more expensive than a Falcon 9 launch, given the reusable mode. I suppose it's the servicing the launch that costs most, not the fuel or insurance premia.

DemocracyFTW24mo ago

I like that idea, would you volunteer to convince Musk to personally do a Full Self-Driving demo on Mars? Teslas would sell like hotcakes, tell him that. One can still hope.

nine_k4mo ago

No pedestrians. No traffic. No traffic signs and rules. No hurry. Self-driving on Mars should be a piece of cake, compared to SF.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse