DailyDirt: Going To Mars
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Space travel is inherently risky, so it shouldn't be too surprising that spacecraft missions to Mars haven't all been successful. Sending people inside metal cans aimed at Mars isn't an easy task -- especially if those people want to return to Earth alive. But as more and more space programs target Mars as a destination, it looks increasingly likely that humans will make it there someday. Here are just a few milestones on the road to Mars.- The Inspiration Mars Foundation is planning a roundtrip manned mission to Mars (non-stop, so no landing) that would last about 501 days, launching in 2018. A press conference to announce the details will be held on Feb 27th. [url]
- When the Phobos-Grunt mission failed to reach Mars orbit, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev suggested some severe punishments (but no death penalty!) for whoever was to blame. The mission had planned to return soil samples from Phobos (one of Mars' moons), but the spacecraft never left Earth orbit due to a computer programming error. [url]
- Valery V. Polyakov spent 438 continuous days in space aboard Mir and returned to Earth in 1995. That is the longest anyone has stayed in space in a single trip (others have been in space for more time, but over multiple trips), and it demonstrates that it's possible to survive in microgravity for the approximate amount of time it might take to go to Mars. [url]
- Elon Musk has a vision of a public-private joint venture to establish a human colony on Mars. Musk is obviously promoting the SpaceX brand with this kind of public statement, but he also says that a viable Mars mission would need about $36 billion to get off the ground. [url]
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Filed Under: astronauts, elon musk, mars, mir, phobos, space, space exploration, spacecraft, valery polyakov
Companies: inspiration mars foundation, spacex
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food
Do spaceships last in space or do they need to be replaced /maintained , i.e radiation bombardment etc does it do damage.
Also what have they done in the way of research since the movie aliens was released , is there any chance of alien biological elements returning on the outside of the craft.
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Re: food
Alot of what curiosity did to land paved the way for this.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon
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Re: DailyDirt - Going To Mars
Having our astronauts and cosmonauts spend these endurance flights in space over the last 25 years has taught us a tremendous amount about how the human body reacts to weightlessness. One of the latest findings in space medicine is that the eyes are effected by long-term weightlessness, which naturally would be a deal-breaker for long-term exploration.
We have some huge engineering challenges to face (for instance, entry and landing on Mars with vehicles large enough to return to orbit is extremely complicated, because of how thin the Martian atmosphere is, or for that matter effectively dealing with solar radiation for the duration, be it with very heavy shielding or some other strategy).
Going straight to Mars after Apollo would have been a mistake, as much as I would have wanted to see it when I was a kid.
-- Daniel
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Ugh, that would have to be the most boring thing ever. 8 months of travel time, see Mars from orbit for a little while without even landing, 8 months of travel time.
It would be like taking an international flight to Paris, getting close enough to see the Eiffel Tower, and then having the flight turn around without landing. Multiplied by about 500.
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Re: Re: DailyDirt - Going To Mars
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Tesla Motors
a run-of-the-mill electric car; They announce they “intend” to pay the loan back early, yet do not actually pay it back even though the owner has a billion dollars; Former staff have accused the CEO of
everything from spying to harassment; The public calls the car the “Solyndra-Mobile” and say it is an
"Un-American Product”; It is made, and priced, by and for Stanford elitist yuppie rich boys; The same six
writers that support Tesla have been shown to be paid shills; All of this is well documented. Wouldn’t
anyone would be ashamed to drive a Tesla?"
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The Last Word
“Re: DailyDirt - Going To Mars
I've been seeing these big, over-the-top ideas of sending people to Mars "one way" to settle there, and now the Inspiration Mars venture, and I'm actually sort of glad we didn't lunge straight into a Mars effort after Project Apollo.Having our astronauts and cosmonauts spend these endurance flights in space over the last 25 years has taught us a tremendous amount about how the human body reacts to weightlessness. One of the latest findings in space medicine is that the eyes are effected by long-term weightlessness, which naturally would be a deal-breaker for long-term exploration.
We have some huge engineering challenges to face (for instance, entry and landing on Mars with vehicles large enough to return to orbit is extremely complicated, because of how thin the Martian atmosphere is, or for that matter effectively dealing with solar radiation for the duration, be it with very heavy shielding or some other strategy).
Going straight to Mars after Apollo would have been a mistake, as much as I would have wanted to see it when I was a kid.
-- Daniel