NASA wants to see SpaceX do a test landing on Mars before they’ll commit any instruments to it.
Meanwhile, in addition to delaying return to flight into January, they’ve now officially slipped first crew Dragon launch into 2018. Not really surprising, given the recent setback.
Quick question, how many test landings did NASA do before putting instruments on the Viking Lander?
I’m sure they’d argue that they had control of the design in that case.
Which was surely part of it,
But the Vikings were NASA’s only shots at Mars for the 1970’s, so they were all-in.
Whereas right now, they already have two operational rovers and three(?) orbiters at the Red Planet, with two more (Insight, Mars 2020) on the way over the next four years. So they’re not hurting for opportunities to do robotic exploration of Mars now.
It’s disappointing but a politically safe stance (as in, they have less to defend to congressional committees) to take, given SpaceX’s current struggles. They’ve already committed $30 million in technical support as it is.
I bet there are plenty of other research organizations that would be happy to put their instruments on a mars bound Dragon.
Certainly prudent on NASA’s part and giving SpaceX all the risk will be reflected in the pricing.
Blast. With better, or at least bolder, management, we could have been flying Dragons, and Starliners, and Orions, and even advanced space shuttles, years ago. I used to want to be an astronaut. I would not want to now. Spending year after year after year flying on Russian rockets, to our own space station, must be fantastically humiliating.