Space

8744 readers

64 users here now

Share & discuss informative content on: Astrophysics, Cosmology, Space Exploration, Planetary Science and Astrobiology.

Rules

Be respectful and inclusive.
No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
Engage in constructive discussions.
Share relevant content.
Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
Use appropriate language and tone.
Report violations.
Foster a continuous learning environment.

Picture of the Day

The Busy Center of the Lagoon Nebula

Related Communities

🔭 Science

🚀 Engineering

🌌 Art and Photography

Other Cool Links

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

NASA says it needs better ideas on how to return samples from Mars (arstechnica.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

10 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Break the problem into parts. Design a system to get sample canisters into martian orbit. Design a Martian orbital system to catch the canisters and send them towards earth. Design an earth orbital system to intercept the canisters. Design a system to get the canisters from Earth orbit to the surface.

Each of these systems will be separate structures with different goals. Each one will be technically difficult and require new methods but each smaller piece will be easier to solve than the problem as a whole.

After R-ing TFA, this is pretty much their plan.