Alain Fournier wrote:


With chemical rockets and without using gravity assists it would be
a ridiculously monstrous mission. But with careful planing you can
lose and gain almost all the delta v needed to get in and out of
the Saturnian system with multiple gravity assists. Still it would
be a very complex mission. Using, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Titan, Rhea, Tethys and Mimas, you can do the trip with little
more energy than that needed to reach Venus. Unless you are lucky
with the planetary alignment it would take a lot of time, but it
could be done.

This still sounds like something ion engines would be helpful for once
you get near Saturn.
The key for a successful sample return would be a very small and
lightweight return capsule, but frankly I think it makes more sense to
examine the samples in-situ from a overall spacecraft mass point of view.
One thing the ion engines would allow you to do is maneuver to different
areas of the rings at different orbital heights over the planet in a
reasonable amount of time.

Pat