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 ...
And just how would that work? What on the moon would pay for going there?
No they haven't.
No they don't.
Not unless you involve that wonderful scientific organization, Los Zetas.
Finer scientists you will not fine.
Cheese.
And Pink Floyd albums on the dark side.
Folks got killed getting into orbit and to the moon.
Killz happenz.
I kind of remember reading that the Wright brothers were NOT funded by taxpayers. Who do you propose PAY for this bit of science fiction/fantasy?
Back then, getting to the moon was job #1, no matter the cost in human life. Now, we need our Safe Space.
We have become a nation of labia.
Coincidence????!???!?!???!??!
What we build there.
The talk of finding value already there is silly, like the Spainiards’ view of the New World as just a gold mine.
The cost of geting anything out of Earth’s gravity well is huge, the cost of getting out of the Moon’s gravity well is negligible.
So as a market develops off Earth, the Moon is the far better place to supply it.
Of course if we’re all willing to kill our babies so we can stay on Earth, there will be no off-planet market.
Surprised that appeals to so many here.
Go away. This is not a gangster-support club.
“...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 earths surface.”
True that. It’s brought up in that video I linked to that NASA already is working on a lifting body to get the pieces parts to an assembly plant/launch platform in LEO. From LEO, launch fuel to Mars falls dramatically, to about 7 lbs per lb of payload.
But now you’re talking three separate engineering processes and three separate complex systems: the parts shuttle, the orbiting launch platform and the launch vehicle. And complexity rises at the square of the change in the number of processes involved.
To: hopespringseternal
“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.”
We knew from the start that the STS had a limited lifespan. The shuttle served for 30 years and has been retired for six, so where is its replacement? We still have to hire a ride from the Soviets whenever we need to refuel one of our spy satellites.
I’m just not ignorant enough to believe that what passes for NASA these days can accomplish all three of those missions in the span of the next eight years.
And be sure to wake me when you’re ready to test your nuclear electric rocket.
With themed headwear.
The Los Zetas Laboratory is the finest particle-accelerator and sub-quark-particle research group out there!
We know you hate Jesus Christ. Tell me you don't also hate science??!?!?
Given how important this "race" to Mars could be militarily and technologically, maybe we should do it, just to get everyone else to quit trying for another 50 years. Because we damned sure haven't shown any serious interest in doing it the last 50, of taking advantage of our advantage, which we've now almost completely lost. We're about as ready to mount a serious program that will get us to Mars and keep us there as my dog is to climb Mt. Everest.
better answer than the space kadets will come up with
In other words going there will pay for itself by our going there which will pay for itself etc. Sorry does not compute.
The cost of geting anything out of Earths gravity well is huge
At least you understand that part of it. The rest of your answer makes no sense
Killing your babies so you can stay on Earth makes no sense to me.
‘Different strokes...’ as they say.
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![]() Martian Burbs |
LOL I like the second one. “Honey I’m home. Unseal the airlock please...”
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