Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Gee and how many months was he on the Moon?

re: Time, priorities and scale
Raoul — (archived)

Scott saw a shiny rock a few meters downwards on the Hadley rille slope, collected it and both understood it was anorthosite. They got one sample but Scott also saw other similar rocks at the bottom of the rille.
There was indeed a time factor that prevented them from going further.

Even with more time available on Mars, there will still be a time factor.
For instance, how long can they stay inside their spacesuit before they need to return back to their Marsbus? Do they have a place to reach before night falls? What are they looking for? Does every sortie leave room for serendipitous discoveries? Can they judge what they see is worth staying longer for (and sacrifice other places because the Marsbus isn't going to return back there)?
And what if something indicates there's a potentially important discovery to be made....at a place too deep for the crew on the spot to reach and only another expedition would be able to do this (if there is one)?

No matter where we go and no matter how (robot and/or human) there will always be that regret there wasn't this tool or that time or that scientific or technical skill available....
And there will always be questions....That's the fun, too

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (43 posts)