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DailyDirt: Making It To Mars

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Tue, Jun 4th 2013 5:00pm — Michael Ho

A manned spaceship to Mars sounded like a logical next step in the 1970s after the first astronauts walked on the moon. But it's been a while since then, and we've sent a few robotic missions to the red planet recently to check out the place a bit more to see if it's really worth visiting. Maybe there isn't anything living on Mars now, but it certainly looks like there could have been conditions favorable for life there in the past. For space exploration fans, here are some interesting links on going to Mars, pointing out some of the challenges and technological advances that will help us get there (someday).

There are a lot of stumbling blocks to getting to Mars -- such as choosing a rocket propulsion system, designing a human-friendly landing vehicle for the Martian surface, and various other problems related to bringing along everything people need to survive while still having enough fuel to do it. None of these problems sound impossible to engineer solutions for, but it'll be expensive. [url]
NASA is working with 3D printers to create almost anything an astronaut would need while in space, without having to manufacture it before the long journey to Mars. One of the items that could be printed: pizza. (Yum. printed cheese.) [url]
Curiosity's Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) has been collecting data on radiation levels that future astronauts might face on their journey to Mars -- and the exposure levels are nothing to sneeze at. NASA has defined some limits for its astronauts, and a trip to Mars could easily exceed those limits. [url]

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Filed Under: 3d printers, astronauts, curiosity, manned missions, mars, radiation, space, space exploration
Companies: nasa

9 Comments

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Zakida Paul (profile), 4 Jun 2013 @ 5:21pm

I want to go to Mars because I want to meet those 3 titted alien women.
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- Anonymous, 4 Jun 2013 @ 5:58pm
  
  Re:
  Are you gonna settle down and get you a house and a car?
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  - btrussell (profile), 5 Jun 2013 @ 3:22pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Probably invent a third arm.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Jun 2013 @ 5:27pm

Pizza from a replicator!!!!
Thankfully star trek is over two decades old now or else there would be patent trolls going after NASA.
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- Greggore, 5 Jun 2013 @ 8:01am
  
  Re: Pizza from a replicator!!!!
  I think you mean over 5 decades (1960's)
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Wolfy, 5 Jun 2013 @ 3:59am

Trying for mars before we have a base on the moon is insane. We have a perfectly good planet right close by to practice all of the techniques and technologies required for a mars habitat, but significantly closer to earth. Unforeseen things happen. The Moon is much closer should we need to send a rescue mission.
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- Anonymous Coward, 5 Jun 2013 @ 4:33am
  
  Re:
  A base on the moon is also insane.
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Greggore, 5 Jun 2013 @ 8:08am

Some one has to go to the moon again
It's been over 40 years since the last man on the moon happened. It's the closest object to the earth and the easiest to get too. Really, some one from earth has to go back there for a manned mission first. The doubters are growing and growing fast, and I don't blame them. So much of the science say's the Van Allen Belt protection would not cover the crew on the way up and the crew would fry from the radiation. I've seen the footage of the NASA files showing the crew faking the picture of the earth from the capsule, where they turn the light on and the card board cutout is taken down from the window to show that the capsule is in orbit around earth instead of near the moon. It's just a short video, but it's these little things that pop up while no one else has gone back to the moon that makes it all controversial.

Why no more attempts? it's not the cost, as NASA has spent billions on so many other missions. Neil is dead, and I think it is sad that in his life, no one else has gone back there since the early 70's. Prove the doubters wrong!
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- Greggore, 5 Jun 2013 @ 8:15am
  
  Re: Some one has to go to the moon again
  Send a Monkey ffs if it is cheaper.. a mouse...heck send a small jar of cockroaches! anything living.
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