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Much has been talk of under the CEV forums for heavy lift and for staying power requirements for manned or cargo mission where be it to the moon, mars and or just simply to the ISS.
Marshall hopes to put robotic probes on diet Cutting fuel weight would free room for science tools
The article talks of how we must be able to deliver the probes vast verity of sensors, gadjits to the place that we wish to explore and how that being much heavier for all these tools to get the most out of having sent the probe to its destination. Some times means that we are stopped before we start due to the amount of rocket fuel necessary to get it off the ground.
Everything from gravity boosts to air breaking must be used to get the most out of the fuel for lift off to getting the probe into orbit around the destination.
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*That's an interesting article.
"About 80 percent of the weight of the http://www.newmars.com/forums/viewtopic … 11]Cassini (Saturn) probe was rocket fuel," said Johnson. "If you could reduce that weight significantly, then scientists could put more science instruments on a probe. We think there are ways to bring down that weight dramatically."
The weight factor has doomed robotic missions in the past. Early attempts to send landers to Mars were derailed in the late 1960s because of weight issues
*Am a bit surprised at the statement made by Mr. Johnson that solar sails are "harder than we thought to develop."
More science instruments onboard, yeah baby. :;): Trim down that rocket fuel.
--Cindy
We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...
--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)
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