I think it was always more feasible to do that analysis with humans on Mars rather than a sample return mission. They just wanted to future proof the mission in case some reasonable enough mission came along that presented an opportunity.
lordofmass on
Technically it is home. It may never leave Mars*
sojuz151 on
How much was that MSR plan? 11 Billions? They build a rover with sample extraction system that requires a mission so expensive that there is no way it will get funded
ladyreadingabook on
Does not need to ‘come home’ just send up a robotic lab. Doing that is also much cheaper.
IM_THE_DECOY on
It was never intended to come to earth.
Soooo this article could be “thing that was never meant to happen is still not happening.”
Secchakuzai-master85 on
And also… do we really want to bring any potential biohazard from another planet to earth?
synoptix1 on
But in a twisted way answering this question would actually be bad in many ways, if we knew for a fact Mars harbored microbial life, funding for science in this department would dry up and further discovery would be far more limited, serendipitous imo.
interstellarboii on
An original price tag of $6 billion, now changed to $11 billion to accommodate changes. ICE is receiving $75 billion over 4 years which comes out to $18.75 billion A YEAR. IMO a mission that could completely change our view of the universe is well more worth funding than deporting and destroying families and communities. It really shows how the US under values science, especially our space program.
8 Comments
I think it was always more feasible to do that analysis with humans on Mars rather than a sample return mission. They just wanted to future proof the mission in case some reasonable enough mission came along that presented an opportunity.
Technically it is home. It may never leave Mars*
How much was that MSR plan? 11 Billions? They build a rover with sample extraction system that requires a mission so expensive that there is no way it will get funded
Does not need to ‘come home’ just send up a robotic lab. Doing that is also much cheaper.
It was never intended to come to earth.
Soooo this article could be “thing that was never meant to happen is still not happening.”
And also… do we really want to bring any potential biohazard from another planet to earth?
But in a twisted way answering this question would actually be bad in many ways, if we knew for a fact Mars harbored microbial life, funding for science in this department would dry up and further discovery would be far more limited, serendipitous imo.
An original price tag of $6 billion, now changed to $11 billion to accommodate changes. ICE is receiving $75 billion over 4 years which comes out to $18.75 billion A YEAR. IMO a mission that could completely change our view of the universe is well more worth funding than deporting and destroying families and communities. It really shows how the US under values science, especially our space program.