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Definitely this. Better to lose a shield prototype than a fancy rover you already spent millions to hurl into space.
by mattnewton 9y ago
Definitely this. Better to lose a shield prototype than a fancy rover you already spent millions to hurl into space.
- mattashii 9y agoThe article isn't 100% clear on this, but to me it reads that the actual heat shield that they were going to use in the mission broke (not a prototype). Which is still much better than the alternative (losing a multi-billion dollar project in Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly)
- duskwuff 9y agoYep. Much better for the heat shield to break in a test chamber on Earth and have to be rebuilt, than for it to break during Mars atmospheric reentry and end the mission.