neotesla
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 11/18/10
Loc: Canada
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Trip to Mars anyone?
#5705965 - 02/28/13 06:50 PM
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http://phys.org/news/2013-02-tycoon-couple-mars.html
Get your names in now...
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StarWars
Mr. Postmaster Man
Reged: 11/26/03
Loc: Karma Chameleon...
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: neotesla]
#5706080 - 02/28/13 07:46 PM
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Let's go... 
I would think 4 astronauts could make the trip however each should have a scientific background.
Dr of medicine
Electrical engineer
Mechanical engineer
Aerospace engineer
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llanitedave
Humble Megalomaniac
Reged: 09/26/05
Loc: Amargosa Valley, NV, USA
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: StarWars]
#5706963 - 03/01/13 10:45 AM
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"In space, no one can hear you fight"
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RobertED
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/11/03
Loc: Johnston, RI
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: llanitedave]
#5706977 - 03/01/13 10:52 AM
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Hmmmm!....I'm not sure about this!!!! What kind of spacecraft is proposed???? NASA has nothing on the drawingboards, yet???? Right!?!?.... 
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Jarad
Postmaster
Reged: 04/28/03
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: RobertED]
#5707112 - 03/01/13 12:46 PM
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I dunno, no showers for 2 years?
I think that rules me out - I would be a biological weapon after that long with no shower. Not even my wife could put up with me not showering for that long.
Jarad
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dickbill
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/08
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: Jarad]
#5707189 - 03/01/13 01:28 PM
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If it's for a flyby, no way. If it's a landing, my opinion is the key to a manned landing mission is the availability of a nuclear interplanetary shuttle that could use the martian atmosphere for aerocapture and wait in martian orbit, while on its way back, it would be using chemical or nuclear rocketry to insert into earth orbit.
The martian habitat would be sent previously in an unmamned flight and stay on the martian surface definitively. If methane and oxygen can be made in situ on mars, then only a very light ascend vehicle is necessary to reach the orbiter from the Mars surface and this ascend vehicle should even be send back on the ground to be reused.
But a nuclear interplanetary shuttle with aerobraking capabilities is a big project. It's not just a question of money but of having all the engineering capabilities, and experience. We could have have it by now if it wasn't for the ISS.
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sirchz
super member
Reged: 09/21/09
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: neotesla]
#5707232 - 03/01/13 01:55 PM
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The risks seem clear. There is a non-negligible chance that whoever goes will not return. Also the possability of long term issues if they do make it back.
What are the possible rewards? Celebrity for those involved, however brief. Very inspirational, and a book & movie would surely follow regardless of the outcome. Is there any scienctific knowledge to be gained (other than sex in zero gravity)? Will there be any lasting benefits?
I'm think this belongs in the unlikely category.
1) Unlikely to happen.
2) If it happens, unlikely to succeed.
3) If it succeeds, unlikely to produce any lasting value.
I hope I'm wrong about all 3.
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Glassthrower
Vendor - Galactic Stone & Ironworks
Reged: 04/07/05
Loc: Oort Cloud 9
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: sirchz]
#5707235 - 03/01/13 01:57 PM
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I would volunteer if :
1) they would accept me.
2) if I can recover and bring back the Meridiani Planum meteorite from the Martian surface.
3) I also get to keep a small slice of said meteorite. 
Sign me up. 
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Pess
(Title)
Reged: 09/12/07
Loc: Toledo, Ohio
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: Glassthrower]
#5707271 - 03/01/13 02:24 PM
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Bluntly,
1) We do not posses the technology to maintain uninterrupted life support for that long.
2) We do not posses the practical technology to create a ship that could shield astronauts from radiation during the voyage.
3) The average person eats 5lbs food per day. Multiply that by 4 people for duration of mission. Forget hydroponics.
4) Water is converted to poop & pee. So you need a lot of it. Ask yourself how often a resupply ship goes to the International space station?
Pesse (It would be a one-way mission.) Mist
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dickbill
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/08
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: Pess]
#5707416 - 03/01/13 04:04 PM
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Way too pessimistic.
I say first go faster (go nuclear). 3 months max.
Then eat less during the space trip. Maybe it would be worthy of reconsidering decreased metabolic rates like the torper of hibernating animals. A slowed metabolism along with a quicker trip should protect against decalcification and muscular atrophy as well.
It seemed indeed silly to bring lots of food and water to sustain the intensive weight lifting and bike riding during the trip in space. That's lots of hamburgers to fight bones and muscle loss. And then nothing much is left to eat when they arrive in destination.
Radiations: all sci fi movies show small antiradiation shelters. The entire ship doesn't have to be super protected. The water tanks can make a torus around the shelter etc...
Also, before departure, astronauts can have their bone marrow and blood frozen for further use in case of cancer.
Actually, with a physician onboard and their own frozen blood available, a blood transfusion is possible during the trip.
Notice also that the martian hab has been send months before, it contains food and supply for extra security.
Anyways, the intellectual ressources of the engineers seem unlimited. They can resolve any problems. This way or any other ways. It's just political.
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ColoHank
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 06/07/07
Loc: western Colorado
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: dickbill]
#5707495 - 03/01/13 05:03 PM
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Driving across eastern Colorado and Kansas in my Highlander is an ordeal. Being confined to a space of similar size for month after month after month? Be my guest.
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dickbill
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/08
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: ColoHank]
#5707539 - 03/01/13 05:39 PM
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Sure it's a bit crampy, but it's no worse than a trip in the Santa Maria with a lot of sweaty sailors eager to find gold and diamonds.
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Jay_Bird
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/04/06
Loc: USA
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: dickbill]
#5707615 - 03/01/13 06:32 PM
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Another site, maybe BBC, had more details about this, it's not a landing.
2 people, flyby or orbit, and return.
Applying ISS technology that already makes today's coffee from yesterday's coffee
risky and ambitious, but not outrageous.
Wonder if some artificial gravity can be incorporated - that would seem prudent based on ISS experience.
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Matthew Ota
Hmmm
Reged: 04/30/05
Loc: IngleHood, California
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: Jay_Bird]
#5708643 - 03/02/13 11:48 AM
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I try to be optomistic about this proposal. NASA has nothing to do with it as it is a private venture.
It will take a very special couple to be able to do this. I would like to see it succeed.
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Rick Woods
Postmaster
Reged: 01/27/05
Loc: Inner Solar System
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: Matthew Ota]
#5709570 - 03/02/13 09:09 PM
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The birth of the 150,000,000-mile-high club!
Very exclusive.
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neotesla
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 11/18/10
Loc: Canada
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: Rick Woods]
#5711342 - 03/03/13 07:56 PM
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To add a unusual twist to this story... Radiation shielding has been an issue, the current idea is to use fecal material as a barrier.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23230-mars-trip-to-use-astronaut-poo-as...
Edited by neotesla (03/04/13 08:30 AM)
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wirenut
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 09/21/06
Loc: m'dale Pa
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: neotesla]
#5711458 - 03/03/13 08:49 PM
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My wife's only willing to sign up if she can be sedated during take-off,landing and anytime she sees fit. I think that counts us out.
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FirstSight
Postmaster
Reged: 12/26/05
Loc: Raleigh, NC
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: wirenut]
#5712133 - 03/04/13 09:18 AM
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A further caveat to this "only a flyby" aspect of the mission is that apparently the optimal timing and path for minimizing the voyage's duration and fuel requirements will require that closest approach occur at an angle where the majority of the planet will present its "night-side" face to the passing craft. To me, this is analogous to trying to fit a marathon car road trip from the east coast to the Grand Canyon and back in a long weeked, and only arriving right as it's getting dark and having to leave before sunrise in order to make it back in time for work Monday morning. The destination might otherwise be abundantly worth the expense, time, and effort required, but under the circumstances hardly worthwhile simply to be able to say "we've been there".
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Pess
(Title)
Reged: 09/12/07
Loc: Toledo, Ohio
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: FirstSight]
#5712707 - 03/04/13 03:04 PM
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Cosmic radiation isn't the only thing you have to bother with. You have the threat of solar flares as well. These would take more than a poo-poo shield.
It would require some sort of internal, heavily shielded room or box enclosure to wait out the storm.
But that's not the biggest problem. You have to recycle EVERYTHING with 100% non-failure rate for mission duration.
Try and invent a system to keep a gerbil alive without ANY intervention for a year.
I think we are a long ways from such systems right now...
Pesse (Long trip just to look out the windows of a sight-seeing bus) Mist
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llanitedave
Humble Megalomaniac
Reged: 09/26/05
Loc: Amargosa Valley, NV, USA
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Re: Trip to Mars anyone?
[Re: Pess]
#5712841 - 03/04/13 04:22 PM
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Quote:
Try and invent a system to keep a gerbil alive without ANY intervention for a year.
Arguably, it would be easier to keep humans alive for long periods than gerbils, since humans provide their own interventions.
That said, it still doesn't strike me as the most pleasant of travel arrangements.
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