Quote:
Originally Posted by samkent
You also forget the R&D phase is over. We are in the operational phase. 4 years plus.
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The R&D phase is most certainly not over; at least not how I mean it. We're not researching how to operate the rovers, we are researching Mars. That's the whole point of this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by samkent
Give them $15/hr, 40 hrs a week and let the rovers have weekends off. That way both planets can start off Mondays with recharged batteries.
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As an industrial scientist, I have worked on and managed several programs where the company I worked for sponsored University research. Its been a while, but $30,000/year (which is what your $15/hour works out to), is pretty close to the going rate for what a company has to pay for a single graduate student's work. But even still, there is often many additional expenses, including covering the overhead of the University, which can add 40 to 50% to that cost.
But the list of tasks that ToSeek has several posts back is no where close to the work of one or two graduate students. And you continue to ignore a proportional share of such things as the DSN.
But let's stick with your idea - how many graduate students do you think you'll need, what other support will they require (equipment, facilities, supervision, administration, etc.) and what will be your total budget?