A recent Twitter discussion lead me to a better understanding of the typical over-priced costs involved in space missions. It all started with a tweet about sorting tiny bits of recycled plastic in order to simulate soils on the moon and Mars. My first issue with this is that aggregate companies already have "real" soils graded by size available for whatever purpose removing the need for a $100k per annum person wasting their time on this task.
He argued that it was important to understand how soils react to rocket plumes and crater formation for a landing craft. He cited the fact that Mars Curiosity suffered damage to a wire on landing due to soil "shrapnel". He quoted two documents that he thought would shed light and justify his endeavors.
http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2009-1204
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/marsconcepts2012/pdf/4359.pdf
I argued that "of course a rocket will form a crater and what sort of poor engineering leaves a wire exposed and vulnerable to the elements on a $2.6billion non-repairable toy"!
NASA and its contractors have spent more than 10 years studying this "crater" phenomenon at, I am certain, some ridiculous expense. Their proposed "fix" is to send a mission before a mission to "pave" a landing pad. That sounds like a multi-billion dollar unnecessary expense to me. It is far cheaper and simpler to engineer your landing gear and thrusters t
He argued that it was important to understand how soils react to rocket plumes and crater formation for a landing craft. He cited the fact that Mars Curiosity suffered damage to a wire on landing due to soil "shrapnel". He quoted two documents that he thought would shed light and justify his endeavors.
http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2009-1204
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/marsconcepts2012/pdf/4359.pdf
I argued that "of course a rocket will form a crater and what sort of poor engineering leaves a wire exposed and vulnerable to the elements on a $2.6billion non-repairable toy"!
NASA and its contractors have spent more than 10 years studying this "crater" phenomenon at, I am certain, some ridiculous expense. Their proposed "fix" is to send a mission before a mission to "pave" a landing pad. That sounds like a multi-billion dollar unnecessary expense to me. It is far cheaper and simpler to engineer your landing gear and thrusters t
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