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NASA says it needs better ideas on how to return samples from Mars
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2024
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Build a transitor. Big, big, big ask up front, but it seems like it'd make all other mars missions trivial by comparison. Start with a lunar transitor to facilitate the lunar base missions.
What's a transitor? Is it like an Aldrin cycler? What are the advantages?
I'm assuming that's what OP means. An Aldrin cycler is a cool idea and I'd love to see one developed some day, but I don't see how it helps unmanned missions significantly. You still need to independently launch and accelerate whatever you want to send to the same orbit for the rendezvous.
Makes sense for creature comforts (like life support and radiation shielding) for the long cruise but why bother for a robotic mission?
You really only need enough independent energy to get up to rendezvous, not enough independent energy to get back to earth. That saves on the amount of fuel you need to lift to have enough fuel to lift the fuel that you need to have to lift the fuel that you etc. etc. I'm assuming that getting an independent vehicle to Mars' surface for sample return with enough energy to make the trip home is the issue. An Aldrin Cycler (thank you) means you don't need to independently pack that fuel anymore.
If you're meeting the cycler in its orbit, you're already on a free return trajectory back to Earth by definition. You need another burn if you want to stop at Mars and another burn after that to leave and get back on a trajectory to Earth. In any event, you need to bring all of that propellant one way or another through some combination of independent launches. I'm still not seeing what a rendezvous with the cycler craft is doing for an unmanned mission. Any delta-v you take from the cycler has to be put back via refueling or reboosting at some point or another.