A question for anyone who knows more about this than I do … which is pretty much everyone! Marcus talked about the (probably unaffordably) high cost of the proposed Mars sample return mission. Question is – what tests would be performed on the soil samples returned to Earth that could not be performed remotely on Mars?
It seems that a fairly significant chunk of the mass of the spacecraft reaching Mars would have to be devoted to the sample return mission. Would it be better instead to devote that mass to additional remote testing equipment?
As a side note, reportedly the Moon will occult Mars on the evening of January 13th, for anyone with a clear sky and an interest.
Not precisely sure, but if handling of the small quantities of lunar regolith is the pattern, then samples will be split into many tiny fractions for many labs to work with. This enables replication across labs, and an extreme number of independent experiments. It also permits storage of some fraction of each sample against the development of improved techniques in the future. Such future techniques obviously cannot be included in a current mission.
Thanks, pt – it certainly makes sense to get multiple replications of experimental measurements on a never-before handled soil sample.
Thinking some more about it, the returned Mars samples would necessarily have been exposed to many months of intense cosmic rays during the journey. This would create some uncertainty about any unexpected measurements made back on Planet Earth – would they be due to Martian geology, or due to the radiation exposure?
There certainly is a very understandable desire “to boldly go” and meet the technical challenge of a Mars sample return mission. On the other hand, maybe it would be better science simply to duplicate some of the sensing devices on the Mars lander and forego the sample return. Tough decision!
The NASA budget is in a shambles. They aren’t capable of cost effective rocket launching and should be focused on the science missions that have no commercial importance or appeal. There’s a reason ULA is up for bid and Starliner is defunct. This is a huge topic which will hopefully be addressed within normal Congressional budget discussions, under regular order.
