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The maintenance cost on these rovers is astronomical though. Adding GPS infrastructure means more components to maintain, more potential failures, and increased complexity. I wonder if the long-term operational costs justify the autonomous navigation benefits. Anyone have data on this?

The maintenance cost question keeps nagging at me. Between the GPS receiver components, the ground-based beacons that need maintenance, and the software updates required remotely... this infrastructure investment is substantial. Worth it though if it enables better science.