[meteorite-list] SpaceX Dragon Capsule Could Bring Soil Samples Back From Mars

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.popsci.com/elon-musk-says-spacexs-next-dragon-could-go-to-mars-or-europa

SpaceX Dragon Capsule Could Bring Soil Samples Back From Mars

But settling the life-on-Mars debate is just the beginning

By Sarah Fecht 
Popular Science
September 14, 2015

SpaceX's Dragon capsule has been dutifully carting supplies to and from 
the International Space Station since 2012. Now a team of researchers 
wants to send the Dragon capsule to Mars and back.

The "Red Dragon" mission concept is just a concept, with no formal plans 
to carry it out yet. But scientists envision that a Dragon capsule could 
rendezvous with the 2020 Mars rover, which may collect samples of Martian 
soil to eventually return to Earth. So far, NASA hasn't chosen a plan 
for getting those samples back to Earth.

Team "Red Dragon" suggests that a Dragon capsule could launch from Earth 
on a SpaceX heavy rocket, travel to Mars, and set down near the rover 
or samples the rover caches.

Equipped with arms, the Dragon could grab the samples (or, if all else 
fails, collect its own) and attach them to a launch vehicle that sits 
atop the capsule. The launch vehicle would send the sample back to Earth.

That's a lot of trouble to go through to get a bunch of rocks and dirt. 
But it's still up for debate as to whether life could have thrived on 
Mars in the past or even in the present day, and the best way to settle 
the debate is by getting samples into the hands of human scientists.

Red Dragon is "technically feasible with the use of these emerging commercial 
technologies, coupled with technologies that already exist," said Andy 
Gonzales from NASA's Ames Research Center during a conference last week.

Although Elon Musk isn't involved in the "Red Dragon" idea, he lent his 
support for the idea via Twitter. And in fact, it sounds like he's even 
got bigger plans for the Dragon, hinting at the possibility of sending 
more complex missions (or even supplies for a human base??) to Mars and 
beyond.