Posted on 04/24/2017 2:33:12 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
What we are reporting here isn't fake news. But it doesn't feel exactly like real news, either. It's in that foggy realm of Trump news in which everything is slightly ambiguous and wobbly and internally inconsistent and almost certainly improvisational and not actually grounded in what you could call “government policy.” What happened was: Trump called the International Space Station and talked to astronauts and, in passing, mentioned that he's going to send Americans to Mars, and soon, like really lickety-split.
Trump was marking the historic achievement of astronaut Peggy Whitson, the commander of the International Space Station, who set a record for most days in space by an American astronaut. (Also on the call from the Oval Office were Ivanka Trump, who spoke about the administration's efforts to encourage women and girls to get involved in STEM fields, and astronaut Kate Rubins.)
During the call, the president asked Whitson and fellow American astronaut Jack Fischer a question:
TRUMP: “Tell me: Mars, what do you see a timing for actually sending humans to Mars? Is there a schedule and when would you see that happening?”(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
But that puts 90% of the money (projected costs though they are) out of the reach of politicians. Can't be having that!
The hurricane quote made my day.
The National Weather Service is terrified of being accused of being politically correct by naming hurricanes LaQuisha and TaKwanda.
Trump should _make_ them do it and get Sheila up on the stage with him!
Hey, if .gov is going to be total blithering idiots it is time to double down. ;-)
Robots can only do a few tasks based what was anticipated they would need. Their programming and instrumentation is limited. They can’t improvise based on new findings like a human could do. They can’t carry mineral samples back for further examination. The rovers, for example, found some interesting things but can do no more than take pictures.
Yeah, looks like AZ or NM on I-10
She wants to go to Jupiter. She’ll need to change vehicles at Mars to continue on to Jupiter. She’ll have to pack a few extra snacks, too.
The person who wrote that article should be sent to Venus, alone.
More likely several moons and Uranus.
“Why not? We went to the Moon in six years without any background in space exploration.”
“....aiming at a mission to Mars with a 2033 launch. The first mission would be an orbital mission only; a later mission would attempt a landing.”
Why an orbital mission first? Why not stop while there? Are they worried the current occupants don’t want Earthlings landing there? If that’s the case, bring along a MOAN to greet the Martians with. F’ em.
“Maybe we should think about sending unmanned supple ships to Mars. A year’s worth of supplies, living habitat, etc.”
The locals will pilfer it.
This is why not. Without sustained gravity by centrifugal force, the folks will arrive blind as the eye ball flattens without gravity to keep in round. Links available on search.
We have no craft capable of spinning to generate the needed gravity simulation. What DJT wants, in this case, he isn’t going to get anytime soon. Moon now yes; Mars not for a long while.
An orbital mission to Mars would be impossible anyway. As I explained in an earlier post, a transfer window between Earth and Mars only opens every two years. Astronauts would have to spend at least a year on Mars itself before returning. The other year would be spent in transit. That’s using a Hohmann, or minimum energy transfer. A nuclear powered ship might be able to cut the time significantly, but I doubt we’ll have one in the very near future.
“Somebody needs to brief the Prez.
We are under a quarantine—Mars landings are not going to happen.”
It must be very frustrating to have electrogravitic craft, as well as a zero point energy powering it, and then be told to not use it outside of Earth’s immediate area.
“They can’t carry mineral samples back for further examination.”
You lack imagination.
A rover/digger can return samples to a capsule to be launched from the Martian surface, just as easily as a manned flight.
And MUCH lighter.
Review the Apollo tapes.
“Probes have done it in less than 5 months.”
Doesn’t matter. We already had existing rockets that could push something as light as the probes to well more than escape velocity (25,000 mph). And NASA was willing to spend the extra fuel to get it there all the sooner.
The toilet paper supply alone on the Mars mission will outweigh any probe we’ve yet sent there. The manned mission will require the most powerful rocket ever built (tens of times more powerful than the Saturn V, or the combined thrusts of the STS’s liquid and solid fuel motors), just to get it to 25,000 mph. That rocket isn’t even on the drawing board yet.
Plus, brakes don’t work in space. Whatever speed you put in on this end has to come out on the other. Humans will need a far softer landing on Mars than the probes had, and the landing is more controllable and less technically challenging if they only travel at 25,000 to get there rather than 45,000. Kinetic energy squares with the change in velocity 45K means more than 3x as much KE to be shed on the far end.
The odd thing about humans is they’ll be expecting to come home. The probes knew from the start theirs was a one-way trip. 90% of the fuel burned to get to Mars will be expended entirely on behalf of the supplies that make the return trip possible. So the “coming home” part massively increases both the logistical challenges and the the load launch vehicle has to push.
So either they’ll launch when the 25,000 mph rocket is ready, or wait another 20 years to be able to make the trip at 45,000.
It bears mention that the Dutch are five years into preparation for a 2023 manned mission to mars, and they fully intend on it being a one-way trip. They’re planning to send Mar’s first permanent human inhabitants. Eleven years preparation for a one-way mission, and even that is an ambitious timetable.
The hard part for Trump is going to be figuring out how to walk this back.
If you aren’t yet convinced the idea involves challenges that can’t possibly be solved within the next eight years, watch this:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5i1cra_the-big-think-should-we-go-to-mars-2017-documentary_tv
You bring up some valid points.
But, supplies can be sent ahead of time to Mars and the space vehicles can be assembled in earth orbit negating the requirement of a single large rocket that must lift everything off the earth’s surface.
Actually, one mongo direct ascent rocket would be a colossally stupid way to do it and you know it (or you are too ignorant to offer an opinion.)
First of all, the Mars transport would be assembled in earth orbit using multiple small launches. Second, the far more efficient way to do this to use some version of a nuclear electric rocket. Once you crank up the specific impulse enough the mass fraction is much friendlier.
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