Challenges of planet-drops

<a href="http://youtu.be/Ki_Af_o9Q9s">http://youtu.be/Ki_Af_o9Q9s</a><div><b>Cha… of Getting to Mars: Curiosity's Seven Minutes of Terror </b></div><div>Team members at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory share the challenges of the Curiosity Mars rover's final minutes to landing on the surface of Mars.</div><div><br /></div><div>-----</div><div>What kinds of adventures could lead to remote planet-drops in the Frontier?</div><div>Is it cheaper to send a remote probe than a manned mission?</div><div>After the initial landing and subsequent data transmission - if a site was deemed worthy a team would be sent to construct an operations center. I imagine a cargo ship would drop pods to the surface containing pre-fab buildings. </div><div><br /></div><div>Makes for a great adventure, instead of your ship crashing, you actually get some supplies. <img src="http://starfrontiers.us/modules/tinymce/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugi…; title="Foot in mouth" alt="Foot in mouth" border="0" /></div><div><br /></div>