It's a date! Millionaire Dennis Tito to send couple on manned Mars mission on Jan. 5, 2018

Foxnews.com ^ | 2/27/13 | N/A

[Vaquero]

A maverick millionaire obsessed with space travel vowed to send a manned mission to Mars, even announcing the date the rocket carrying one man and one woman would set off for the Red Planet: Jan. 5, 2018.

[Vaquero]

Pie in the sky or not....it is good to read about something that does not make me want to vomit..ie, Obama, sequestration, gun control....

[Vaquero]

PING

[Sacajaweau]

Never happen...

[ClearCase_guy]

Are they accepting nominations?

[left that other site]

One Man and One Woman????

That’s Discrimination!

[Vaquero]

yup....they need at least one transgender so that the man and woman have something to laugh out for a year....

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

Bye-Bye, you evil Earth Haters...enjoy a oneway trip!

[bolobaby]

I volunteer to go with Megan Fox.

[left that other site]

the LGBTQ CoMYOONityyyyy are not amused by this egregious trespass against political correctness.

LOL

[bravo whiskey]

never happen. the guy will never ask for directions and the woman will nag him to death about his driving.

[CrazyIvan]

“Are they accepting nominations?”

What? Take an trip at someone elses expense?

[BenLurkin]

Hopefully they will fare better than Catherine Cabal and Horrie Passworthy.

[Rebel_Ace]

From today (3/3/2013) to the announced date of Jan 5, 2018 is just 1768 days.

For some historical travel times to put things into perspective:

Mariner 7 was FAST, with a travel time of 131 days.
Viking 2 was SLOW, with a travel time of 360 days.

Now, if this mission intends to SEND SUPPLIES IN ADVANCE, then assuming you want "confirmation" of safe arrival of supplies, and assuming you are "oofing" a pretty big payload of supplies, you would have to launch them close to one year prior to the manned mission. That cuts the available time to have the mission planned and "pad ready" to about 1400 days.

Assuming one year for training on using all the equipment and vehicles, that pushes having equipment and mission objectives and procedures pretty well mapped out in about 1040 days.

For additional perspective on very large and expensive projects, James Cameron's Titanic cost over 200 million dollars in 1995 money, started production with actual Titanic wreck footage in 1995 and project planning, then took more than 100 days for set and prop creation (starting around May, 1996, then 160 days of filming, then even more for editing, post production and then marketing for a premier on Nov 1, 1997. And that was for a FAKE ship.

If the mission does not call for supplies in advance, that buys you about a year for additional planning, building and training, but it means you must have a vehicle platform that can TAKE EVERYTHING YOU NEED AT ONCE. This is a tall, tall order, and would generally mean staged assembly in low Earth orbit. That then entails the pre-planning and production of orbital assembly vehicles, tools and techniques, as well as the training for the construction crew.

My take is that unless these guys have a fully defined mission that they can "take off the shelf" and start TOMORROW with real hardware and personnel, the 2018 date is not realistic. My 2 cents, anyway, but it is fun to read about.

[Two Kids' Dad]

I volunteer to go with Julia Stiles.

[Vaquero]

this is a flyby. it is scheduled for 2018 as this is the closest that Mars and Earth will be till the 2030s

this will be a self contained (enough supplies on board and reusing water)tour of Mars, with no orbit, but a slingshot around mars back to the earth so the trip will only last 1 year.

[Mark17]

Bye-Bye, you evil Earth Haters...enjoy a oneway trip!

You are correct sir. It is a suicide mission. Even if they arrive on Mars alive, they will never return alive.

[Rebel_Ace]

If it is just a flyby, then I fail to see any real value. Machines can gather more info from orbit than two people peering out the porthole while screaming by one time at 25000 miles per hour. I think the general population will not be impressed with a mission that cannot produce better photos than Curiosity can, and won't bring back samples.

Now, if this is a shakedown of an Earth-Mars vehicle that is left in Earth orbit after this mission, to be used on a future flight, we might be talkin'.

[TigersEye]

It’s a private venture. I don’t think they have to prove anything to anyone.

[Rebel_Ace]

As a private venture I certainly agree they can do what they wish to with their money and time, and if it is a go, I will follow with interest, and hope for their success.

However, as a private venture, I suspect no one party will be able to foot the bill, and that they will look to investors or donors. Investors would be looking for some type of return on their money. Donors, not so much.

So, what they would have to “prove” largely depends on where the money is coming from. No bucks, no Buck Rogers... (Shamelessly stolen from Apollo 13, where it was probably stolen from somewhere else)

[Magnum44]

No bucks, no Buck Rogers... (Shamelessly stolen from Apollo 13, where it was probably stolen from somewhere else)

I thought is was from "The Right Stuff"...