Comments on: NASA’s Key to Efficient Mars Landings: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

By: On The Cost of Curiosity « Possibly Nonsense

On The Cost of Curiosity « Possibly Nonsense — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:45:52 +0000

[...] NASA’s Key to Efficient Mars Landings: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle | The Crux Share this:TwitterFacebookStumbleUponDiggTumblrLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. [...]

By: amphiox

amphiox — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 02:29:55 +0000

Why is it that NASA builds a new satellite package from scratch for every mission? It seems wasteful and repetitive.

Is not NASA’s mandate the advancement of all aspects of aerospace science and technology? That would include engineering. Designing new, cutting edge hardware for every mission is part of its exploration mandate – exploration of the boundaries of design.

Also, the time it takes to test and harden the hardware designs for space travel mean that by the time of the next mission, technology has advanced a great deal on earth, and it makes sense to try and take advantage of the new capabilities in the new missions.

(One could readily imagine, though, that one day a private company would design a all-purpose platform which they could market to scientists for space exploration and science purposes)

By: Haul it Louisville Guy

Haul it Louisville Guy — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 02:27:24 +0000

I like the idea that NASA continues to go to Mars and I hope that the funding continues. Frankly, I would rather NASA take a shot at exploring Saturn’s moon Titan but there may be some pretty good reasons for selecting another Mars landing. They have the technology and equipment to land on Mars without having to invent everything which could be the case with going to Titan.

By: Daniel Pike

Daniel Pike — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 22:58:26 +0000

Hi,
I’d just like to point out that the report that the crash site of Mars Polar Lander had been found was later found to be erroneous. The features interpreted as the parachute, backshell and lander disappeared when seen in a better image. See here http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8191-crash-site-of-mars-probe-disappears.html

I love your stuff. Keep it up.

By: templerman

templerman — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:03:31 +0000

Why is it that NASA builds a new satellite package from scratch for every mission? It seems wasteful and repetitive. The cost of unmanned space missions has always caused me to suspect NASA has drifted away from its founding principles. One might begin to suspect that NASA is attempting to pad the bill to keep all its workers busy. Essentially, NASA tries to reinventing the wheel each time they launch a new mission. NASA should have a basic set of chassis that can be augmented with off the shelf instruments and technology.

By: Reducing, Recycling, and Reusing on Mars | Amy Shira Teitel

Reducing, Recycling, and Reusing on Mars | Amy Shira Teitel — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 14:49:59 +0000

[...] the 1960s, and not starting from scratch each time keeps overall mission costs down. Here’s my full article on Discover’s The Crux blog. Share this: This entry was posted in Planetary Science, Unmanned Spaceflight and tagged InSight, [...]

By: John Berenberg

John Berenberg — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 13:04:27 +0000

“Aside from the Moon, Mars is the only body in the solar system that NASA has landed on more than once.”

Not quite true. There is a third such body, and NASA has landed on it more times than on all the others combined.