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Could humans be too heavy to land on Mars?
SkyAtNight Magazine ^ | June 16, 2021 | Lewis Dartnell

Posted on 06/17/2021 7:53:46 AM PDT by PJ-Comix

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This means, Metzger says, that the descent engine of a large Martian lander would blow loose rocks across the surface at high speeds up to a kilometre away – presenting a risk to the crew habitats or other equipment that the mission needs to touch down near.

Ummm... Isn't the author overlooking an even BIGGER problem than landing on Mars which is TAKING OFF from Mars? This wasn't a big problem on the Moon since its gravity is just 1/6 that of Earth but Mars gravity is more than double that of the Moon.

1 posted on 06/17/2021 7:53:46 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
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To: PJ-Comix

So just take a Tesla car with you to drive from the rocket to the base which now can be miles apart.


2 posted on 06/17/2021 7:55:57 AM PDT by Lockbox
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To: PJ-Comix
Fats Waller: Your Feets Too Big
3 posted on 06/17/2021 7:56:10 AM PDT by P.O.E. (Pray for America)
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To: PJ-Comix

If too many humans go to Mars at the same time, won’t it capsize?


4 posted on 06/17/2021 7:56:59 AM PDT by GSWarrior
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To: PJ-Comix

Good post and comments.

Robots are definitely the way to go for the foreseeable future.


5 posted on 06/17/2021 7:57:59 AM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: PJ-Comix

They’re not worried about taking off from Mars, because it’s understood if anyone is stupid enough to go there, it’s a one-way trip.


6 posted on 06/17/2021 8:00:01 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: Boogieman

It ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids.


7 posted on 06/17/2021 8:00:53 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: PJ-Comix

The crew would all die of cancer within the next few years because of exposure to cosmic rays for 12 months or more.............


8 posted on 06/17/2021 8:01:36 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: GSWarrior

Mars is leaning 25 degrees now. This could end badly.


9 posted on 06/17/2021 8:01:38 AM PDT by rdl6989 ( )
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To: PJ-Comix
So put the landing zone further away from the habitat.
Preferably with a hill in between. 2 km is not terribly far to walk in only 38% earth gravity.
And they probably will have rovers or golf cart like conveyances.

10 posted on 06/17/2021 8:01:47 AM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: PJ-Comix

The blowing soil and rocks is an issue I hadn’t thought about. The same problem exists on Earth. If you try and land a rocket in a field it will excavate a crater underneath it.

But does all of Mars have the same surface? The solution on Earth would be to find an exposed piece of bedrock or a salt flat. There must be somewhere on Mars that has a flat, hard surface.


11 posted on 06/17/2021 8:03:28 AM PDT by Renfrew
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To: PJ-Comix

Isn’t the author overlooking an even BIGGER problem than landing on Mars which is TAKING OFF from Mars? This wasn’t a big problem on the Moon since its gravity is just 1/6 that of Earth but Mars gravity is more than double that of the Moon.

No, he is not.

In a lot of Scifi stories and some movies, the ships land and take off from blast pits; flying debris is not a problem.

Higher gravity just means more fuel or more efficient and powerful engines to take off.


12 posted on 06/17/2021 8:03:45 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: dfwgator

In fact, it’s cold as hell.


13 posted on 06/17/2021 8:04:08 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: PJ-Comix

Remind me again; why do we need to go to Mars?
The old reason “Because it’s there!’ won’t do.
We haven’t even ‘tamed’ the Moon yet.

I’m thinking this mission to Mars is mostly about keeping NASA and related manufacterers solidly employed and in the money for the next three generations. Gotta look out
for # 1., you know.

**Of course, some still wonder if we even ever went to the Moon in the first place. Seeing how relentlessly partisan the FBI, CIA, IRS and what have you can be during the Obama & Trump years, I say anything is possible. These agencies are no longer above reproach.


14 posted on 06/17/2021 8:05:33 AM PDT by lee martell
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To: PJ-Comix

The article is basically anti-manned space exploration and, other than that, it is full of misleading and omitted facts.


15 posted on 06/17/2021 8:05:40 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: PJ-Comix

“He ain’t heavy, he’s a Martian.”


16 posted on 06/17/2021 8:08:32 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: lee martell

Whitey’s on Mars!


17 posted on 06/17/2021 8:08:43 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: All

Forget coming back. They left Mark Watney up there. If not for the Rich Purnell maneuver, he’d still be there (but dead).


18 posted on 06/17/2021 8:09:11 AM PDT by BipolarBob (Who is John Galt and is he vaccinated?)
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To: PJ-Comix

Is there even one example of rocket exhaust blasting a crater in the ground? First of all, it’s not hot enough to melt rock. Second, Where would the debris go once it leaves said crater? It would have to go up, not sideways to escape, demolishing the rocket itself. And what would propel it up?


19 posted on 06/17/2021 8:09:35 AM PDT by Telepathic Intruder
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To: dfwgator

It’s Watney. Not Whitey.


20 posted on 06/17/2021 8:09:51 AM PDT by BipolarBob (Who is John Galt and is he vaccinated?)
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