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Unrelated I guess but I'm kinda tired of Yet Another Mars Lander. I realize we have a lot of experience and success in the endeavor, and Mars is a particularly

Unrelated I guess but I'm kinda tired of Yet Another Mars Lander. I realize we have a lot of experience and success in the endeavor, and Mars is a particularly amenable planet for them (minimal atmosphere, relatively close etc.). But it's just boring at this point. Granted less boring than nothing at all, but there are much more interesting destinations in the solar system; Jupiter's moons and Venus to start. I'm aware of the huge technical leap from landing on a dead planet to an active one with a punishing atmosphere, much less dealing with Jupiter's gravity well, but the potential discoveries (and imagery) attained from a successful landing on these more challenging bodies would be worth 1000 more Mars landers. The Soviet's managed at least one Venus landing back in the 70's, imagine what we could do today. I do remember reading somewhere that Venus's atmosphere was so thick that a lander could soft land on the planet with just parachutes, or minimal retros, so maybe it's not all bad.

mturmon 8y ago
If going to Mars leaves you flat (so jaded!), there is always Europa Clipper (https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper/ https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper/) with current launch expected around 2024 (IIRC). It was only 2 years ago that Juno (https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html) arrived at Jupiter.
- furgooswft13 8y ago
  Jaded...absolutely. I'm still waiting for my hoverboard. NASA likes to brand a lot of their missions as "looking for evidence or possibility of extraterrestrial life", and I certainly understand that, despite the science being much more grounded and concrete. Still...if there is any hope of finding that in our solar system, Europa, and other moons of Jupiter, have far greater possibilities, relatively, than a well studied barren rock. IMO, leave Mars to Musk and the like and start focusing NASA's resources and extensive science probe/lander experience on more mysterious targets. Or give NASA a lot more money for (not-manned) exploration, and do both. That works too.
  - greedo 8y ago
    The idea that Mars is "well studied" doesn't bear out, anymore than the Earth is well studied. We've probably explored less than 1% of the surface of Mars.
  - mturmon 8y ago
    It's hard to say where life (or past life) is most likely to be found, I think. It's only after the most recent rover (Curiosity) arrived at Mars that we discovered clear evidence of long-lived lakes and streams on ancient Mars, and chemical species compatible with life (http://science.sciencemag.org/content/343/6169/1242777.full http://science.sciencemag.org/content/343/6169/1242777.full).

mturmon 8y ago

If going to Mars leaves you flat (so jaded!), there is always Europa Clipper (https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper/ https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper/) with current launch expected around 2024 (IIRC). It was only 2 years ago that Juno (https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html) arrived at Jupiter.

furgooswft13 8y ago
Jaded...absolutely. I'm still waiting for my hoverboard. NASA likes to brand a lot of their missions as "looking for evidence or possibility of extraterrestrial life", and I certainly understand that, despite the science being much more grounded and concrete. Still...if there is any hope of finding that in our solar system, Europa, and other moons of Jupiter, have far greater possibilities, relatively, than a well studied barren rock. IMO, leave Mars to Musk and the like and start focusing NASA's resources and extensive science probe/lander experience on more mysterious targets. Or give NASA a lot more money for (not-manned) exploration, and do both. That works too.
- greedo 8y ago
  The idea that Mars is "well studied" doesn't bear out, anymore than the Earth is well studied. We've probably explored less than 1% of the surface of Mars.
- mturmon 8y ago
  It's hard to say where life (or past life) is most likely to be found, I think. It's only after the most recent rover (Curiosity) arrived at Mars that we discovered clear evidence of long-lived lakes and streams on ancient Mars, and chemical species compatible with life (http://science.sciencemag.org/content/343/6169/1242777.full http://science.sciencemag.org/content/343/6169/1242777.full).