Posted on 04/27/2017 2:29:39 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
American astronauts may be walking on Mars in the next eight years, or ideally the next four, if President Donald Trump has his way. But the new timetable has baffled experts in space travel.
(AUDIO-AT-LINK)
The surprise announcement — or rather instruction — took place this week during a live video conference between President Trump and veteran astronaut Peggy Whitson, who is currently aboard the International Space Station.
During the conversation, Trump asked Whitson when it would be possible to send a human to Mars. She gave a careful and detailed answer explaining that a trip to the Red Planet might be possible sometime in the 2030s.
Not good enough for the White House. "Well, we want to try and do it during my first term or, at worst, during my second term, so we'll have to speed that up a little, OK?" Trump replied. There was awkward laughter from outer space. "We'll do our best!" Whitson promised, grinning.
According to Professor Tom Pike of Imperial College London (who worked on the 2008 Mars Phoenix Lander), the NASA timetable cannot easily be shortened. "I wasn't quite sure whether [Trump] was mis-speaking. Maybe he meant the moon, [not Mars]?" Pike says. "He's got to do it on a realistic timescale, and with the budget that gives it the funding that it would require."
One of the biggest constraints is the return journey, according to Pike. Compared to the Moon, Mars has much higher gravity, and a substantial atmosphere. So a rocket for the return will probably need to be sent to Mars well in advance. That plan is still at an early stage.
That is not the only matter to be overcome. "The issue is not just sending a man or woman to Mars," Pike says. "[Currently] even the space station is out of reach. The American astroanauts now there are there courtesy of the Russians, since the end of the shuttle program. So to go from essentially zero [to Mars] — this is a stretch."
Case in point: NASA has been developing the Orion capsule for the last 14 years. Fourteen years ago SpaceX hadn't even launched a rocket. NASA hasn't accomplished in fourteen years something that only took them eight years in the 1960's.
NASA hasn't launched Orion yet. SpaceX has launched Falcon 1, Falcon 9, the Dragon capsule, made the Falcon 9 first stage reusable, and is on the cusp of launching Falcon Heavy.
NASA would ask for a trillion dollars for a Mars mission, but if they ever accomplished it, they would spend far more. And at the end all we would accomplish would be flags and footprints.
More likely they would miss the deadline, overrun the budget, and the next president would simply cancel the whole thing.
Just imagine the level of technology in 1962 and the Moon landing happened in just 7 years.
If not for the end of the Cold War people would be present on Mars for a decade and Moon could have had multiple colonies and military bases.
Likewise for the Cassini probe, et. al.
In addition to its cargo, the X-37b carries a highly-skilled midget engineer-astronaut who fiddles with experiments enroute. Few know this.
Going to the moon was easy compared to a Mars trip. The distance to the moon is relatively constant and is less than a light second away making communication similar to a slightly delayed phone call. The distance to Mars is highly variable being anywhere from around 4 to well over 20 light minutes away. The crew would have to deal with any emergency on their own since you could not have a simple back and forth chat with mission control like the good old days.
check that just over a light second to the moon not less
He is advocating their profession: exploring space and they still sneer at Trump. Sad.
Fixed - NASA hasn’t done anything in decades.
“” “Going to the moon was easy compared to a Mars trip. The distance to the moon is relatively constant and is less than a light second away making communication similar to a slightly delayed phone call. The distance to Mars is highly variable being anywhere from around 4 to well over 20 light minutes away. The crew would have to deal with any emergency on their own since you could not have a simple back and forth chat with mission control like the good old days.”” “
Nothing of the above it impossible. Long orbital missions is the evidence that the man can autonomously stay in space for long enough for a Mars flight.
Getting there is not an awfully impossible task because it is now exactly 47 years since first controlled soft landing on Mars.
Getting back is rather akin to getting back from the Moon with Apollo with the exception that the larger booster needed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.