Interesting idea. The only issue I see with that is that you now have two orthogonal problems: a Starship to get into Mars orbit and back to Earth orbit and a l

Interesting idea. The only issue I see with that is that you now have two orthogonal problems: a Starship to get into Mars orbit and back to Earth orbit and a lander capable of landing on Mars and returning to Mars orbit. Had SpaceX not cancelled their Red Dragon project, they wouldn't even have needed Starship for Mars sample return. NASA should have funded that back in 2014 - there would have been a sample return vehicle today and ready for launch two years from now...