[maaku]

> Why bring it back to earth? Wouldn't it be safer & less expensive to return it to ISS instead, (or is that what's implied) ?

No, that would involve a very complicated and expensive breaking maneuver to slow down the spacecraft, not to mention getting in exactly the right orbit to rendezvous with the ISS. It's much, much easier to just the payload sturdy enough to survive atmospheric entry and a crash landing.

[mkingston]

Expensive breaking is precisely what they're trying to avoid!

(Sorry, normally I wouldn't nitpick spelling when the meaning is clear, it was just a funny error!)

[maaku]

Hah! I had to reread twice to spot the mistake. That's too awesome; I'm going to leave it as-is.

[fit2rule]

Send two missions, one with the capture device, the other with a functioning remote-controlled robot laboratory. Leave them close to the region, set them up to explore for 50 years or so.

I know, I know, budgets. It'll 'never' happen.

But what if we just send a nano-factory with its own assembly/disassembly abilities? Feasible, 5 - 10 years on from now?

Well anyway, the point is: why bring it back, really? Just send more machines to do better jobs in space.

[rkuykendall-com]

What about crashing it into the moon? Higher cost, but much less chance of earth contamination. We could then check it out with cheap robots.

[didgeoridoo]

An object coming in from a rendezvous with Saturn would be traveling at a ludicrous speed. You would probably vaporize on lunar impact. The Earth's atmosphere can help slow it down to a reasonable velocity--otherwise you have to carry a lot more fuel to burn in a slow-down maneuver.

[hrjet]

Similar to how a swing-by is used to accelerate a space-vehicle, I wonder if a swing-by could be used to decelerate as well.

[Tuna-Fish]

It can. The boost is proportional to the cos(final exit trajectory in relation to the planet, velocity of planet) -- so if the probe leaves the planet opposite to the direction it goes around the sun, it slows down.

(that is, the probe as whole can still orbit the sun in the same direction as the planet, it just needs to do it slower.

[vilhelm_s]

According to Wikipedia, the MESSENGER mission to Mercury used a complicated series of fly-bys of Earth, Venus and Mercury to slow down.

[BrandonMarc]

Ludicrous speed?! I bet they have hyperjets on that thing!

(ducks)