517 Watts

for a fraction of the cost of a manned mars mission we could send 100 rovers with 10 sample return landers.

these would be built on a production line basis, teamed with a high resolution telescope looking down at mars to select safe but interesting landing sites we could do real science

On 6/22/2013 8:41 PM, bob haller wrote:
for a fraction of the cost of a manned mars mission we could send
100 rovers with 10 sample return landers.

As my math teacher used to say, "Show your work".

On Tuesday, June 18, 2013 5:03:39 AM UTC-4, jacob navia wrote:
The Opportunity rover solar panels are producing still 517 Watts after

10 years exploring Mars. The whole machine is in excellent condition,

but showing signs of wear and tear after all this time of course.



With just a bit more effort this kind of solar panels could sustain

a machine on Mars indefinitely. Adding some hardware+software to clean

them up would be a plus, even if that is not really required. The

wind on Mars does a great job if you are lucky, and Steven Squyres has

been lucky.



Flash memory is showing its age too. A warm reboot was forced again

last week because of a known flash memory problem but after a reset the

machine did a great drive with 65 meters in a single day.



Cameras and other instruments in the machine seem in perfect condition,

and there is still a treasure of discoveries flowing from Mars: a set of

what can be arguably seen as the first marsian fossils has been

discovered a few months ago.



This machine shows how mars exploration can be developed and done well

within todays budgets and capabilities. The total cost of the two rovers

sent to Mars was 829 Million dollars, and now each year of operation

costs only 20 million.



Mars exploration doesn't need to be expensive.

well since space probes have never been built by he hundereds cost estimating isnt clear...

however i read if vehicles were built 5 at a time they might cost a million bucks each.

now the spirit and opportunity design is awaesome and has real life test results.....

So build a hundred of them as a first effort

"bob haller" wrote in message
...


well since space probes have never been built by he hundereds cost
estimating isnt clear...

however i read if vehicles were built 5 at a time they might cost a million
bucks each.

now the spirit and opportunity design is awaesome and has real life test
results.....

So build a hundred of them as a first effort

Bob, let's assume for a minute you're right on the price.

So now we need a Delta II for each one. Taking a SWAG from Wikipedia,
that's $51M a launch.

(and they've had 149 successful launches, so you're about to double the
total number flown.)

So we're up to $52M each.

Just to launch what you want, we're talking $5B or so.

That's ignoring stuff like upgrading the DSN (which you definitely have to
do) and all the costs of actually RUNNING the things for years.

Bob,

I don't mind your boldness. Hell, von Braun's ideas for Mars make yours look
like nothing. But take the next step in thinking through the process.





--
Greg D. Moore http://greenmountainsoftware.wordpress.com/
CEO QuiCR: Quick, Crowdsourced Responses. http://www.quicr.net

As a first cost cutting move send them on musk launchers, preferably reusabl;e ones.

such a large number of heavy lifts will help cut booster costs

"bob haller" wrote in message
...

As a first cost cutting move send them on musk launchers, preferably
reusabl;e ones.


Well, technically, that's your second cost-cutting move, since your first
involved mass-production theoretically cutting costs.


such a large number of heavy lifts will help cut booster costs

This is hardly heavy lift.

But you're a step closer. Now what about being able to analyze all that
data?





--
Greg D. Moore http://greenmountainsoftware.wordpress.com/
CEO QuiCR: Quick, Crowdsourced Responses. http://www.quicr.net