Could Curiosity Rover Moonlight As Part of a Sample Return Mission?

Do you know that the MERs lowered the landing platform on a cable, followed by rocket engine ignition and a brief hover period ? Do you know that, for some reason, it worked, twice, with no broken or tangled cable ?

See it here [youtube.com] (3:03 - 3:33).

MSL uses the exact same technique, only it is simpler since after the cables are cut the rover is already on the ground. So the second part with the platform egress is not required. The only new elements are the detection of the touchdown and the fly away. The first has

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/SVvxR73fv9E/could-curiosity-rover-moonlight-as-part-of-a-sample-return-mission

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