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A New Way to Reach Mars Safely, Anytime and on the Cheap
scientificamerican. ^ | December 22, 2014 | By Adam Hadhazy

Posted on 12/24/2014 8:54:36 AM PST by BenLurkin

The premise of a ballistic capture: Instead of shooting for the location Mars will be in its orbit where the spacecraft will meet it, as is conventionally done with Hohmann transfers, a spacecraft is casually lobbed into a Mars-like orbit so that it flies ahead of the planet. Although launch and cruise costs remain the same, the big burn to slow down and hit the Martian bull's-eye—as in the Hohmann scenario—is done away with. For ballistic capture, the spacecraft cruises a bit slower than Mars itself as the planet runs its orbital lap around the sun. Mars eventually creeps up on the spacecraft, gravitationally snagging it into a planetary orbit


TOPICS: Science; UFO's
KEYWORDS: mars
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To: BenLurkin

Can we shield ships and living spaces from cosmic rays sufficiently to prevent radiation deaths in astronauts/settlers and birth defects in pregnant women?


21 posted on 12/24/2014 10:28:24 AM PST by montag813
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Perfect! Everybody simply has holes in their floors through which to dump garbage and waste.


22 posted on 12/24/2014 11:43:42 AM PST by SgtHooper (Anyone who remembers the 60's, wasn't there!)
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To: Yo-Yo

This “slowing down” is exactly what happens in a transfer orbit. An object, whether planet or spacecraft, in an elliptical orbit slows down as it travels from perihelion to aphelion. If it’s making a rendevous with another object in a circular orbit at that radius, It will be overtaken by the rendevous target and start to fall towards it as they get close.


23 posted on 12/24/2014 3:40:53 PM PST by dr_lew
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

Be sure to take along plenty of supplies and a few decks of cards (no chips).


24 posted on 12/25/2014 5:09:10 AM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/ _____________________ Celebrate the Polls, Ignore the Trolls)
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