
SpaceX shows off how we might get to Mars - reacharavindh
https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/27/spacex-shows-off-its-interplanetary-transport-system-in-new-video/?sr_share=facebook
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Pfhreak
I like the way that this is set up to be iterable. Being able to stick the
landing on the BFR isn't actually necessary. No reason you couldn't use two
rockets to launch the fuel and ship separately.

Beautiful, here's hoping they can pull this off. Best of luck to SpaceX.

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dudus
going live now
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1YxNYiyALg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1YxNYiyALg)

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s3arch
Thanks for the link... I was just right on time when Elon came in :)

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pbreit
What I don't quite get is that if we feel like we could figure out how to live
on Mars, couldn't we relatively easily figure out how to live on a hot Earth?

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chris012543
The idea is to be a multiplanetary species. Not leave Earth for Mars. Plus,
it's just really fucking awesome. That alone is enough reason for it to be
pursued imo. Exploring and doing cool new things is part of what makes life
worth living.

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s3arch
We have made our earth worse for habitat, in the name of doing "cool things"
and "make life worth living". But still we can live here and find happiness,
unlike Mars. Living in Mars and building cities there is wonderful. The
project might even succeed completely. But people will find more "emptiness"
in space than on earth.

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Pfhreak
> But still we can live here and find happiness, unlike Mars.

This is a wholly unfounded statement.

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iblaine
One way trip to Mars. Rightfully so, the first trip to Mars should be one way.

[edit] Presentation is ongoing and there is a return trip. Cool.

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reacharavindh
While we are already trying a hard thing of getting to Mars, why not make an
attempt to get back instead of "doing nothing"?

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undersuit
Fuel. We have two options to to get back from Mars. Bring the fuel with us or
harvest the fuel there. Bringing the fuel is unrealistic, "The bottom line of
all these calculations is that you can get about eight times as much stuff to
Mars for the same amount of fuel if you send it one-way instead of trying to
bring it back!"[1] So let's mine the fuel there. We've never done that. We
don't know how long it takes. We have to bring all the equipment in one go, it
might even increase the weight of the mission by 8x!

The whole one-way thing is just the easiest. It's no guarantee you're stuck on
Mars forever(future flights might be better equipped for return), and it's far
simpler than making a guarantee that you won't get stuck on Mars forever.

[1]
[http://www.polaris.iastate.edu/EveningStar/Unit7/unit7_sub2....](http://www.polaris.iastate.edu/EveningStar/Unit7/unit7_sub2.htm)

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wiredfool
Notice the progression of Red, Green, and Blue Mars at the end.

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xutopia
Aren't we sorely missing water on mars though?

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Pfhreak
Mars has lots of water. It happens to be locked up as ice, but there's plenty
of water on the planet.

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vishnuks
Duplicate
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12591517](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12591517)

