Final Space Studies Colloquium on Mars exploration is May 5
A Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission is the highest priority Mars science mission for the next decade (Decadal Survey of Planetary Science). During this Colloquium talk the feasibility of reducing mission cost by adopting the emerging commercial capabilities, in particular the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launcher that can deliver an un-manned Dragon crew capsule to Mars will be presented. The Dragon capsule can be modified to land on Mars with all the hardware needed to return samples to Earth, including a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), an Earth Return Vehicle (ERV) and sample collection and storage hardware.