[Vendek]

Space entrepeneur Eric Knight's novel idea for putting the old Space Shuttles to good use. Could also be a way of sitting out the recession on a far away planet!

[coloradan]

Sure! I’d like to volunteer Feinstein, Boxer, Blagoevich, Kennedy, Mr. and Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Holder, Chuckie Schumer, and Frank Lautenburg.

[mad_as_he$$]

You might be able to sustain a crew of 2 for the trip. The shuttles are actually quite small and storage for food, water and oxygen would be a real problem.

[Izzy Dunne]

a sufficiently sized propulsion stage.

I think I see a problem with this plan...

[ElkGroveDan]

Eric has addressed a lot of issues, but he is neglecting a serious atmospheric entry problem at Mars. When the vehicle finally reaches the portion of atmosphere where it could use his rube-goldberg parachute system, it would be traveling at an insane speed - probably Mach 13 or 14. If the vehicle didn’t burn up by then, the chutes would shred within a millisecond of deployment, and Mars would have a nice large new crater for future scientists to study.

[hadaclueonce]

no taxes to pay for the bailouts, might not be too bad of a deal...

[GeronL]

how do we get back?

[LRS]

Space scuttle...

[jws3sticks]

I'd join Jerry Ryan on a "voyage" to Mars in a heart beat, all be it close to my last heart beat. Be still my heart.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

It might be suicide, but I’d go in a heartbeat.

[cva66snipe]

Shuttle Tickets get your Lunar Shuttle Tickets
Will that be chanting or non chanting :>}

[Zuben Elgenubi]

They're French, but they can fly:

[Billthedrill]

Thanks but no thanks. There's this little "one-way" problem with it.

We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth
Let us rest our eyes on the fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.

Now, you put a bordello there with a blind accordian player and I might be interested. As long as there's a return ticket.

[montanajoe]

I’d go in a minute...wish I was a bit younger..the military dont want me back either

[uglybiker]

It’s gonna need a third shuttle cuz I’m going to need a place to store about 5 years worth of beer & smokes. ;-)

[messierhunter]

At the center of the truss, dock a sufficiently sized propulsion stage.

Easier said than done. You're hauling a lot of excess weight - the orbiters' wings will be useless on mars and for returning to earth orbit - its thermal protection can't even handle the temperatures of a direct re-entry from the moon, let alone mars. That's a lot of wasted delta-V. It can't land on mars because you'd never get off of it with the orbiter. It can't generate much artificial gravity unless they are spaced very far apart (close spacing results in severe disorientation for the crew when spinning too fast), in which case the connecting truss would be torn apart by the stress of any propulsion unit firing. And how are you going to adequately shield the crew from long duration radiation? Last, but not least, the orbiters' fuel cells are not capable of long duration missions, so you'll need to completely replace the electrical system with solar cell replacements. At this point you may as well build a whole new spacecraft in orbit from scratch for less, tailor made for a mars trip.

[Scythian]

Will there be any space women on board?

[SunkenCiv]

Mars Trip Proposed for Space Shuttles
Space.com | Tue Jan 6, 2009 | Tariq Malik
Posted on 01/07/2009 1:15:48 PM PST by presidio9
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2160480/posts