

Send the ISS to Mars - tocomment
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/11/AR2008071102394.html

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rms
If we're going to start making unrealistic space requests, let's start by
cutting the US defense budget by 35% so we can fund real science.

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DTrejo
Sniper scopes that work even when it's foggy are crucial to our advancement as
a human race!

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Asa-Nisse
Probably yes. Sea navigation. Mountaineers. Rescue missions. Not that I would
much rather see manned mars missions in my lifetime than another desert
liberated from its evil nomad dictators... but still!

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DannoHung
What I've never understood is why the ISS wasn't designed in part as a
construction platform. Wouldn't it make sense to build the vehicle needed for
a Lunar or Martian mission in space and not worry so much about the weight
needed to haul everything up in one go?

I mean, I'm not so hot at orbital mechanics, but I thought a really big chunk
of the weight was in the rocket and fuel needed to boost the payload into
orbit, then a much smaller amount of weight got spent on setting up the flight
path to the destination orbit.

If I have the right of it, why spend time and money building the launch
vehicles when we can use existing lifters to shove the stuff up and then push
off from there. I mean, depending on the departure orbit, we're talking about
a third of the velocity needed and most of the mass. You wouldn't even need to
tug the return re-entry vehicle along for the ride.

Am I missing something that space experts know all about?

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encoderer
It also opens-up design options. If it never has to fly in Earth atmosphere,
it doesn't have to be aerodynamic.

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Pahalial
This is an interesting idea and I wouldn't mind seeing it, but it's also a
year and a half old. There have been rebuttals published far and wide,
including in the WaPo itself three days later:

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/07...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/07/16/AR2008071602238.html)

Why the repost, if I might ask? A couple of quick searches have turned up no
noise from Benson himself on the topic since then.

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panic
_Human missions to Mars will not be just a bit harder than a trip to the Moon
and back, which takes a matter of days. They will be incredible multi-year
journeys -- more like the voyages of Magellan than Apollo._

This seems like hyperbole to me. Getting to Mars takes less than a year.

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InclinedPlane
There's no civilization on Mars, yet, getting to Mars isn't the end of the
journey, it's just the start. The total journey to Mars, on Mars, and back to
Earth will be multi-year.

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robryan
I think mars is one of those places where if we ever want to get there we will
have to come up with a first mission that doesn't pass current safety
standards.

I think it's such a big undertaking that to plan for all circumstances
wouldn't allow the mission to happen for a long time. Thing's like no rescue
if something went wrong and only accounting for one launch window back to
earth,

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InclinedPlane
This is why you don't let news reporters write science policy, because they
have no effing clue.

Developing the ability to send the ISS to Mars is significantly more difficult
than building a purpose built spacecraft to send to Mars. The design of ISS
is, to use programmer jargon, tightly coupled to its role in Earth orbit,
sending it on a mission to Mars without significant modifications would cause
its crew to suffer severe radiation exposure. Not to mention that we'd lose
radio contact, the crew would run out of supplies and die, and the station
would probably miss its target and fail to enter orbit around Mars (assuming
it had the capability to do so, which it doesn't). Adding all those
modifications would be more expensive than building a new vehicle that was
actually designed for the journey.

Moreover, the most difficult aspect of all of this is propulsion. ISS is
vastly heavier than other craft we would send to Mars, making it a more
difficult task to move to Mars than any of the reference Mars missions on the
table.

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electromagnetic
Wholly agreed. I'm certain the ISS will be of great use in a future manned
Mars project (supposing we don't wait until the ISS goes the way of Mir), but
repurposing it as a vehicle to Mars is, quite frankly, fucking moronic and as
stupid as trying to break the land speed record in a modified backhoe. Simply
put: That shit ain't happening.

The ISS would be best used as a permanent base for the crew constructing the
manned vehicle to Mars. The ISS would also be capable of acting as a tether
for the vehicle, enabling its own habitation modules to be created first. Then
once the Mars vehicles habitation module is made, it can be the base for the
construction effort.

Using the ISS as a habitation module for the construction effort will
significantly speed up the process. Instead of taking years to assemble the
structure, like with the ISS, the entire project could be assembled in months
with a permanent crew in space. The ISS struggled with getting enough
launches, a multinational manned Mars mission would enable launches to be made
from _at least_ 3 locations. NASA, ESA and Russia are all capable of launching
large components into space, and a ISS based crew would be capable of the
assembly process. The ISS will be capable of housing 6 astronauts at one time
(I'm unsure if life support can handle 6 astronauts for months at a time, but
that's easy to resolve if needed), which means projects could easily continue
on the ISS while a Mars project is underway.

I believe everyone wants the manned Mars mission to last longer than the
construction effort, or it's going to be a serious anti-climax. Also I hope
NASA plans ahead and that the Mars craft is highly reusable and highly
adaptable for later missions.

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jacquesm
I'm sorry, but I just had to:

<http://dragvideo.co.cc/?tag=dragster-backhoe>

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electromagnetic
I almost said as stupid as trying to drag race a backhoe, I decided to change
it when I realized it would probably be cool. I'm glad I changed it, and
dragster backhoe is as cool as I thought.

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jacquesm
Interesting though, how you can think of the most unlikely things and a google
search will turn up several examples.

This is probably closely related to how difficult it is to find some original
niche to exploit. If you can think of it, so can others.

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nazgulnarsil
non-modified humans in space is a waste of time and money. space science
should all be poured into transhumanism.

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omarqureshi
Haven't people learned anything from Doom?

