On Killers Fucking amazingOn Survivors Hope you enjoy dying <| sep |> You aren ' t going to give SpaceX the benefit of the doubt that it ' s when not if . You expect me to give NASA the benefit of the doubt that they can do better and didn ' t just get lucky the first time ? That ' s a pretty long stretch . SpaceX is offering ridealongs , life is risk . So unless you got an RD 180 and Atlas V in your pocket I ' m not seeing how this is a better plan . Much less worth offsetting the risks of Mr . Torg voice rocket powered flying crane Mr . Torg voice , on top of everything else . The second you mention flying on any other platform you blow the only budgetary reason in your favor , and excuse for the razor thin design . You really want to do science on Mars you send the scientists there , you send entire towns with labs there , and email the results back . Dudes on Mars dirt bikes with buckets and trowels could collect and process more raw science than a 1000 rovers ever could in a single year . Red Dragon gets us closer to that , sky cranes are a distraction . Though methane powered , reusable ones on the other hand would be a great idea . Instead of sending any rover at all next time NASA just sends a kick ass skycrane delivering rolling rovers anywhere on mars before hopping back for a refill . Then the rovers don ' t even need to carry their own equipment . Hell you could keep hopping them and just carry back their hopper loads . Okay I really like the skycrane idea again , more skycranes ! Put a hopper on top of Red Dragon and the crane could pick them up like pucks or something out the top hatch . Compromise ? NASA sky crane to deliver Red Dragon rovers . Fund all the space things ! Sorry , got excited , too much coffee .