> Whereas Mars requires the Deep Space Network to reasonably be able to maintain communications - so your very cheap probes still need super-highgrade radios to

> Whereas Mars requires the Deep Space Network to reasonably be able to maintain communications - so your very cheap probes still need super-highgrade radios to be useful That's not technically true. They maintain fancy radios that can reach Earth as a backup. Data transfer is done via the Mars Relay network. https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8861/the-mars-relay-network-connects-us-to-nasas-martian-explorers/ https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8861/the-mars-relay-network-conne... Ingenuity uses this as well. > if Starlink works on Earth, there's no real reason it shouldn't work on Mars. Ground-to-low orbit comms relays have been in operations for half a century. And decades at Mars already. Starlink is for high throughput communications from ground to ground on the same planet with always-on connectivity and global coverage. Their sattelites are engineered cheap and replenished with cheap lift from SpaceX. Totally different problem calculus at Mars and doesn't address "backhaul" to Earth. You'd need longer-lived high throughput optical terminals or better, preferably at Areostationary orbits. Checkout work by Briedenthal and Edwards on the matter.