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Booster recovery isn't a mission objective. But now that you mention it, they did miss Mars so I guess they didn't quite nail it after all.
by alangibson 6y ago
Booster recovery isn't a mission objective. But now that you mention it, they did miss Mars so I guess they didn't quite nail it after all.
- jonplackett 6y agoI don't think they ever actually tried to hit mars. mars was in completely the wrong orbit at time of launch - they just wanted to get to about where mars would have been.
- Cogito 6y agoIn case people don't know, they hit the orbit they were going for. This was a solar orbit that goes out as far as Mars orbit, but does not actually rendezvous with Mars. It's similar to the first part of a Hohmann transfer, but without course correction and circularisation burns. Trying to actually hit Mars would require launching within a specific window, as well as all the other things required for planetary missions - powered upper stage (not a car), planetary protection protocols, etc. So actually hitting Mars would not only restrict launch opportunities (bad for a test launch) but would also add a whole suite of costs associated with going to another planet (also bad for a test).