The First Mission to Mars

A Mars Direct-style mission featuring the Ares V rocket.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• mars
• manned
• mission
• direct
• aviation
• space
• NASA
• ares
• constellation
• artificial
• gravity
• first
• red
• planet
• rocket
• orion
• exploration

[gary2914458]

What exactly is the danger then? Impacts are certainly rare enough not to inhibit the first colonists of Mars. We already have the tech to build permanent habitats, e.g. the ISS or nuclear submarines for that matter.

[gary2914458]

The president's plan puts goals of missions to Mars and asteroids so far in the future that political events in the meantime are likely to derail the plan beyond recognition. This is what happened to the Constellation program. What is required is a strong, well-funded plan on a 10-year time scale so that political events, like a change of administration, cannot easily derail it.

[gary2914458]

@rockstar377 Please keep the bashing out. Asteroids have been a recognized valuable destination for a long time. They may contain valuable resources for further colonization efforts. We know very little of the composition and structure of asteroids, which would be very useful in case we ever had to to deflect an asteroid from an Earth-bound trajectory.

[PaleoCowboy]

How is artificial gravity generated in the ERV for the return flight?

[RoosterGirlTZ]

I think traveling to Mars would be fun if I wasn't so terrified of flying!

[samysasy419]

@gary2914458 I'm not talking about the spacecraft being hit by a meteorite, I'm talking about Mars itself. There are literally thousands of tiny metereorite that com to Earth everyday, but we never get hit by it, because it usually all burns up in the atmosphere. Plus we still don't have the tech to build permanent habitats.

[gary2914458]

@samysasy419 The frequency of meteorite collisions is so small as to be almost completely negligible. Most spacecraft in empty space go their entire lifetime without suffering damage. Other risks are far more concerning.

[gary2914458]

@samysasy419 The long term effects of zero g are well documented from time spent on space stations. The longest continuous time ever spent in zero g is 438 days. Granted, the effects of Martian 0.38g are not well understood, but as long as physical activity is maintained there is little reason to think they cannot be overcome. As you can see in the video, artificial gravity can be generated by relatively simple means. It is not even strictly necessary if the trip is 6 months.

[samysasy419]

@gary2914458 Also, I would like to bring up the fact that no nation has ever done tests on long term affects of humans in space, we need atificial gravity or else we won't be able to send anyone anywhere, and were atleast 2 decades from making artificial gravity. A one way mission to Mars would never work, here's why: Mars has been the bulls eye for asteriods for thousands of years, it deosn't have a strong atmosphere, so most meteors hit it, instead of buring up in the atmosphere like on Earth.

[gary2914458]

@samysasy419 It is not a matter of funding. The NASA design reference mission 3.0 had an estimated cost of $50 billion. Previously, $5 billion a year was spent on the shuttle program. If a design architecture is chosen, and not changed every 5 years, the funding is already in place to develop such a mission on a decade timescale. Personally, I'm in favor of a one-way mission where the costs are cut even more.

[samysasy419]

@grekridea Yes, but no environment on Earth resembles Mars' in the least bit, and simulated, and artificial environments only go so far. All we can do now is speculate, we are no where near going to Mars. We're not even gonna go there in 2030, maybe in the 2040s, but not any time sooner. As of now, there is no single nation on Earth that can fund a 4 to 8 manned mission to Mars. The best we can do is send automated robots.

[grekridea]

@samysasy419 You do know that MULTIPLE tests have already been done here on Earth for this exact mission for the exact amount of days and the astro's did fine right?