The Planetary Society’s Lou Friedman has an interesting post on the status of efforts by NASA and ESA to mount a Mars sample return (MSR) mission.
Friedman reports that although there is much interest in the idea, cost estimates keep growing because of the complexity of the effort. He reaches the following conclusions:
- There will never be enough money in the science budget for NASA to do a Mars Sample Return mission alone;
- The MSR mission will require international cooperation: technically, politically, and economically;
- MSR is not a single mission — it is multiple missions, or in NASA-speak, a program.
Cosmos magazine takes a look at what humans might drive around on the surface of Mars one day. Writer Michael Dumiak examines the MarsCruiserOne, a three- to four-person rover designed by Architecture and Vision of Munich.
The article contains some very cool illustrations of the rover, which was designed by German Andreas Vogler and his Rome-based partner Arturo Vittori, whose brother Roberto is an ESA astronaut.
“I’m worried about it tipping over,” says JPL’s Brent Sherwood, who is editing a collection of space design concepts. “But it is very cool – one of the more advanced designs I’ve seen.”
Bad Astronomy is hosting the Carnival of Space, a regular collection of space-related articles. The 44th edition features just about everything you might want to know about the future of human exploration of Mars. Articles include:
Stuart Atkinson writes about the Red Planet’s changing landscape
Ian O’Neill discusses an early-warning system for solar flares to protect Martian colonists
Colony Worlds has a piece on radiation hazards on other planets
Ethan Siegel tells you why Mars colonists may go thirsty
Nancy Atkinson discusses one-way, one-person trip to the Red Planet
Next Big Future has a piece on how future explorers might travel to Mars using carbon nanotubes solar sails
Mars Odyssey reviews how ISS experience could help us build a Martian spaceship
And who will be first to Mars? Might it be an Indian or South Korean? Or a woman?
Check out these stories and more from the Carnival of Space at the Bad Astronomy site.