SpaceX has a rocket the size of a building hovering in the air at the same altitude for 10 minutes at a time. Do you really think it's that much harder to attach a crane to it and lower something while there?
The gravity and atmospheres on Mars are both extremely well known variables. Those things don't change from mission to mission or decade to decade.
The rockets on the drop module are nowhere as complicated as a raptor engine. They're closer to fireworks and rocket engines.
Think about the pace of technology and how we've just "recently" been able to view photos or comments like this on our phones or just "recently" been able to have drones bombing civilians in the Middle East with a pilot stationed in a shipping container in Colorado. 30 years ago, we didn't have those things and 30 years ago, we didn't have building-sized rockets hovering in the air for 10 minutes at a time.
The earlier landers, with those inflated airbag things bouncing all over the place... the times change, friend.
SpaceX has a rocket the size of a building hovering in the air at the same altitude for 10 minutes at a time. Do you really think it's that much harder to attach a crane to it and lower something while there?
The gravity and atmospheres on Mars are both extremely well known variables. Those things don't change from mission to mission or decade to decade.
The rockets on the drop module are nowhere as complicated as a raptor engine. They're closer to fireworks and rocket engines.
Think about the pace of technology and how we've just "recently" been able to view photos or comments like this on our phones or just "recently" been able to have drones bombing civilians in the Middle East with a pilot stationed in a shipping container in Colorado. 30 years ago, we didn't have those things and 30 years ago, we didn't have building-sized rockets hovering in the air for 10 minutes at a time.
The earlier landers, with those inflated airbag things bouncing all over the place... the times change, friend.