Mars Sample Return Options

[StargazeInWonder]

Thanks for the link regarding the camera. That's got some tidbits along the way that are interesting regarding the process, though we're now in an enigmatic phase.

I notice that the entries in the study are not all parallel with one another. Despite the same timeline, it seems that some are focused on small subsets of the problem, befitting different institutional missions. Maybe some of the ten are implicitly being grouped with others as plug-and-play portions of the whole architectures. Certainly, as noted earlier, different parts of the architecture(s) fall into very different parts of the spectrum between Proven and Unprecedented.

It's safe to say that SpaceX has approached some aspects of the business with far more showmanship and flair than the more established aerospace contractors. It's also safe to say that showmanship and flair don't in and of themselves solve any engineering problems that make MSR challenging.