The Challenge of Launching Geology Samples off of Mars is Easily Underestimated, Due to Tempting Misconceptions

This white paper is offered with hopes that a new community appreciation for the Mars ascent vehicle (MAV) challenge will help to ultimately bring Mars Sample Return (MSR) to fruition. The main point is that the difficulty of developing a MAV for MSR has been easily underestimated over decades of time, for understandable reasons explained here.