Proposed 'Red Dragon' Mars Sample Return by 2022.

[RGClark]

Proposed 'Red Dragon' Mars Sample Return by 2022.
'Red Dragon' Mars Sample-Return Mission Could Launch by 2022.
by Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | September 10, 2015 09:00am ET

Feasible concept?
There's no reason why this potential mission should not work, Gonzales said.
Even the most eyebrow-raising part of the plan — landing the roughly 10-ton Red Dragon capsule softly on Mars — is feasible without any big technological leaps, he and colleague Larry Lemke, a now-retired former Ames researcher, stressed during the FISO talk.
While Red Dragon is far too heavy for the rocket-powered "sky crane" system that put the 1-ton Curiosity down and will be used again for the 2020 rover, detailed modeling studies suggest that the vehicle could land safely using its onboard SuperDraco thrusters. (These engines will come standard on the crew-carrying Dragon variant SpaceX is developing, as well as newer versions of the cargo Dragon. The SuperDracos' main purpose is to get the capsule to safety in the event of a launch emergency.)
Red Dragon is too heavy to use parachutes, but it could slow down enough for the SuperDracos to take over by entering the thin Martian atmosphere at a relatively shallow angle, thereby subjecting itself to the effects of drag for a long period of time, Lemke said.
So how much would all of this cost? It's unclear at the moment, because the team has not yet drawn up any cost estimates. But Gonzales said he's hopeful that the Red Dragon concept would be considerably cheaper than the Mars sample-return effort envisioned by the 2013 Decadal Survey, which would likely cost around $6 billion.

http://www.space.com/30504-spacex-red-dragon-mars-sample-return.html

In this proposal, they need two launches of the Falcon Heavy. That's a 100 metric tons to LEO. That is necessitated by landing a 10 metric ton lander on Mars. But the idea of a Mars Sample Return is just to bring a few kilos back, like a few meteorite sized samples. Then there are existing propulsive stages literally 1/100th the size of the fully fueled Dragon. So you could use a much smaller launcher, such as the Falcon 9, or even the Delta IV, or Atlas V.

This is important since it would mean a small mission that could even be privately financed. Also important is it would be so low cost you could send multiple missions to different locations on Mars.


Bob Clark