# Mars, System Design & NAND - Mercurial Mars Mission

- Show: [The Amp Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour)
- Published: 2013-03-20
- Length: 1h 11m
- Episode: 137
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2013-03-20-mars-system-design-nand-mercurial-mars-mission
- Listen: https://theamphour.com/the-amp-hour-137-mercurial-mars-mission/

## Summary

Hosts Dave Jones and Chris Gammell discuss the engineering challenges of a Mars mission, contrasting Robert Zubrin's efficient 'Mars Direct' plan with NASA's politically driven, complex proposals. They debate the necessity of modular electronics and spare parts for survival, referencing the Apollo 13 filter mismatch as a cautionary tale against non-standardized components. The conversation shifts to practical hardware design, criticizing a point-to-point wired NAND computer for its lack of 'design for sharing' and discussing the pitfalls of building modular circuit marketplaces like Circuit Lava.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2013-03-20-mars-system-design-nand-mercurial-mars-mission#t=0) Introduction and Dave's Corrupted Video Files
- [5:02](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2013-03-20-mars-system-design-nand-mercurial-mars-mission#t=302) Firmware Support and Legacy Build Tools
- [12:43](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2013-03-20-mars-system-design-nand-mercurial-mars-mission#t=763) Mars Direct vs. NASA's Complex Politics
- [19:20](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2013-03-20-mars-system-design-nand-mercurial-mars-mission#t=1160) System Design Decisions and Boundary Conditions
- [25:58](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2013-03-20-mars-system-design-nand-mercurial-mars-mission#t=1558) Mars Mission Electronics and Modularity
- [34:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2013-03-20-mars-system-design-nand-mercurial-mars-mission#t=2040) NAND Computer and Design for Sharing
- [44:41](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2013-03-20-mars-system-design-nand-mercurial-mars-mission#t=2681) Troubleshooting SPI and Chip Abstraction
- [58:54](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2013-03-20-mars-system-design-nand-mercurial-mars-mission#t=3534) Circuit Lava and Modular Electronics Viability
- [1:06:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2013-03-20-mars-system-design-nand-mercurial-mars-mission#t=3961) Raspberry Pi Pick-and-Place and Reshoring

## Topics

- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Microcontrollers & dev platforms](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/microcontrollers-and-platforms)
- [Design for manufacturing & NPI](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/design-for-manufacturing)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Chips, FPGAs & semiconductors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/chips-and-fpgas)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)

## Most relevant to

makers and hobbyists

## Mentioned

- Robert Zubrin (other)
- The Case for Mars (other)
- Mars Direct (other)
- NASA (company)
- Martin Marietta (company)
- Apollo 13 (other)
- Altium (company)
- Circuit Lava (company)
- Raspberry Pi (product)
- Dangerous Prototypes (company)
- Seeed Studio (company)
- Bell Labs (company)
- Ian Ross (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [The Spark Gap - Episode 15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-spark-gap/2014-09-24-the-spark-gap-episode-15) (The Spark Gap)
- [S1E58 NASA, Systems Engineering, and Sending Robots to Space | David Oh](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2020-12-23-s1e58-nasa-systems-engineering-and-sending-robots-to-space-david-oh) (Being an Engineer)
- [The Spark Gap - Episode 1](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-spark-gap/2014-06-16-the-spark-gap-episode-1) (The Spark Gap)
- [Redefining the Imaginable in Space Exploration & Communication](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/over-the-air/2021-08-17-redefining-the-imaginable-in-space-exploration-communication) (Over the Air)
- [Designing Space Robots](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2025-11-11-designing-space-robots) (The Robot Report Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2013-03-20-mars-system-design-nand-mercurial-mars-mission. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to The Amp Hour.