VASIMR Lunar Tug Concept

[weeinchit]

VASIMR is a futuristic propulsion technology that will not ever be capable of taking humans anywhere. It has been intentionally placed in front of going to Mars to make sure that a Mars mission can never be initiated.

[AgrivatedKillah]

@weeinchit Yeah...because it's not like we have any mars missions now.

Also, Vasimir if proven[which it has been so far] Is MUCH faster, and more practical for long duration space missions.

[weeinchit]

@AgrivatedKillah There are lots of ion propulsion technologies that have been flown for thousands of hours so far. I don't hate VASIMR and there's nothing wrong with studying it. But it is being sold as the holy grail of space propulsion and that is false. It will only be useful for small space probes, not for tranport of bulk hardware or people. It will not get humans to Mars faster (or at all) than chemical or NTR propulsion. There are no studies showing that it will.

[AgrivatedKillah]

@weeinchit Either way....both are far off when it comes to interstellar space

[weeinchit]

@AgrivatedKillah -Well VASIMR is far off for technical reasons. Perhaps many decades from now it will evolve into something that can transport heavy cargo and people at high speeds. This is not the case for NTR. NTR was almost flight ready in the 70s and could be rapidly developed - and improved- today. But we don't do that simply because there is no mission grand enough to require advaced propulsion. Without the mission, advanced propulsion is just a pipe dream.

[AgrivatedKillah]

@weeinchit Hm.

I heard that fusion power is more promising.

See Project Icarus and Project Daedelus

[weeinchit]

@AgrivatedKillah Of course fusion would be terrific. But fusion is another far-off technology that won't be available for decades. Whenever you see NASA putting technologies in front of plans for real missions that means they are not being allowed to actually have a real mission. If we decided to wait for something like fusion then there would never be a mission anywhere. Remember: NASA creates technology to complete it's missions, not the other way around.

[mreshadow]

More space junk to destroy future craft

[bestamerica]

'

only american rocket can go,,,

not ussr russia

[smartmax7777]

@bestamerica And what do you mean by that, are you saying that it is illegal according to international low for anyone other than the Americans to go to space? Then you must be dumb.

Or do the mean that only Americans can make good enough spacecraft to go anywhere? In that case you are wrong as well, Russia is sending rockets into orbit regularly and has stated that they plan to go to the moon and China has stated its intention to start its own space program.

[bestamerica]

smartmax7777, ' hi max,,, dont use a word - YOU - on me,,, let explain about this video,,, dont insult me like that,,, respect me,,, american JPL / NASA have the best high technology rockets / spacecrafts going to far far away outer space,,, china is not, ussr russia is not,,, china have space in water tank as hoax,,, ussr russia can going to moon and walking on the moon land plus venus land,,, america can going to mars and walking on the mars land,,, america own mars,,, ussr russia own venus

[bestamerica]

smartmax7777, ' hi max,,, dont use a word - YOU - on me,,, let explain about this video,,, dont insult me like that,,, respect me,,, american JPL / NASA have the best high technology rockets / spacecrafts going to far far away outer space,,, china is not, ussr russia is not,,, china have space in water tank as hoax,,, ussr russia can going to moon and walking on the moon land plus venus land,,, america can going to mars and walking on the mars land,,, america own mars,,, ussr russia own venus

[Helge129]

@bestamerica Nobody owns mars, or venus, and for certain the US won't be the first to put a man on Mars the way they are going currently.

[bestamerica]

Helge129,

'

yes it is hard for america in the future to touch the mars,,,

american JPL / NASA spacecrafts were already there touch the mars land

[Helge129]

@bestamerica Not my point.

My point is: The US are not going to be the first nation to send a human being to Mars. Russia, India, or Europe are likely to be the first. or Japan.

[bestamerica]

Helge129,

'

i rather american go FIRST to the mars land,,,

foreign go later,,,

ussr russia never go

[Helge129]

@bestamerica That's simply not going to happen. Say thanks to the moron of president, and bunch of morons for congress you currently have, who keep cutting NASA's budget.

In other words: Sorry, but it's not going to happen anytime soon.

[Helge129]

@bestamerica Also ussr russia? You truely have to be delusional, or stupid, or missinformed. The USSR doesn't exist anymore. It's been that way for 20 fricken years.

[bestamerica]

Helge129, ' dont insult me,,, dont use a word - YOU - on me,,, do RESPECT me,,, i dont insult and stupid to heigel129,,, explain about this country and space,,, let america can go mars first,,, ussr russia cannot go,,, helgel129 is a rude,,, cased closed

[Helge129]

@bestamerica "You" is the only term available in the english language. I did not insult you, I stated the truth.

[granddad2002]

From the autonomous fueling and the lifter and the faring assembly... this looks like how the ESA will do a lunar logistics mission?

[notessimodude]

FUCK! I found my penis... why is it made of metal and blasting to space...?

[SUPERBOOM777]

@notessimodude LOL i thought almost same thing!!!

[granddad2002]

WE have the engineering, the scientific need... and millions on Earth who want that seat. But Governments and Aerospace run on 'votes' and 'money', you can see some of the difficulty here. The future is changing... as need for satellites and breakthroughs in new resources.. space is going to be a part of how we live in the post-modern world. Countries that miss the opportunities can always learn to bow to their new masters.

[MrMushroom90]

@WalterSolano hopefully by the year 2030 they are sending alot of normal ordinary people to populate mars

[WalterSolano]

@MrMushroom90 ... I have awake, and I can understand we can send people to travel other planets the day we want to.

[junkymagi]

Most will be damaged beyond repair, you can break those down in solar ovens to recover raw materials for building something else. Won't be very efficient but better than mining raw materials on the moon and could be used to help test smelting technology on the moon without specifically hauling raw materials in for the tests.

Oh, and the fuel tank from the cargo pod that is thrown away could have more padding around it or balloon it for landing then recover the fuel for use on the moon.

[junkymagi]

Once the tug gets to mars, it's discarded? Seems like a waste. Have the shrouds that are used to cover it during launch fold forward out of the way for the trip. After arrival fold the solar array back up and close the shroud over them then do a hard landing on the moon where that fuel tank from the cargo is going to land. After the cargo lands, send a rover or two out and recover the materials.

[emerychandler]

needs some sound, music, sound effects but that was awsome vasimr is going to be very succesfull

[lkrrkl]

The Vasmr will be the first project on the participating Costa Rica with name and titles, thanks to the company Ad Astra Rocket Company in the same country. It is the pioneer in plasma thrusters and the only one that is developing. With headquarters in Liberia, Costa Rica, and Texas, U.S..

Franklin Chang Diaz, scientist, engineer and former astronaut with seven flights of the company's founder and leader of the investigation.

[docmordrid]

NASA just issued a solicitation for VASIMR engines for the initial purpose of testing a tug like this. If this works it could well be our first space drive capable of traveling around the solar system not in years but just weeks - as in 40 days to Mars instead of 1-2 years.

In many ways it is the impulse drive from Star Trek.

[TheFluffyDuck]

Ill be dead long before humans have an urge to go into space again. Untill then Big Brother and Australian Idol will have to suffice *sigh*

[barahmasa]

Unfortunately you're right bro!

[TheFluffyDuck]

The only thing our civilisation has too look foward to is a dying planet and mobile phones with bigger cameras built in :(

unfortunatly exploration and coloniation don't factor into that :(

[Interleap]

20 MEGAPIXEL CAMERA PHONES IN 2010!

[notessimodude]

@TheFluffyDuck Well now is like the stage between the space stages... kind of like we're building up and testing technologies.

[Helge129]

@TheFluffyDuck They plan to go to the Moon like...ASAP. And to Mars by 2020-2040.

[roidroid]

would it be safe to be standing so close to the active rocket, like that astronaut at the end of the video?

i would think the exhaust and blown up moon-dust may have an abrasive action on the face plate of the spacesuit - or even blow him off his feet.

[Interleap]

i dont think so because this is going on in a vacum so the forces of the rocket will be much weaker

also the rocket is going to be weaker aswell because there is much less gravity on the moon.

[whitesox629]

birds were a nice touch

[kattejuice]

cool