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Re: I think you may be under estimating how much supplies two people would need to last them forty Macharius Send a noteboard - 15/11/2010 11:26:51 PM
If you are going to plan a round trip to mars you will need to figure out how to make rocket fuel on the surface of the planet so that really on cost you the plant to make it and what it cost to get the plant there.

"Only?" That seems quite a feat to me. This would probably require a radical new propulsion system to be developed, which would incur enormous engineering costs prior to the trip. And that's to say nothing of this plant that you figure will be delivered. :P In any case, that's only one of the challenges of getting them back. You still have to figure out how to launch from the surface of the planet. I suppose you could have a small lander module, but if you do that, you need to figure out how to transport hundreds of thousands to millions of pounds of fuel from the planet to the orbiting ship.


It's already been planned out. A guy named Robert Zubrin (former NASA engineer, etc) has been planning this stuff out for the better part of 30 years. He published a book in the mid 90s called "The Case for Mars" in which his plan for a manned visit is described and defended. I read it, and even met him once: he's a pretty smart guy. ;) Anyways, my point is that the entire thing has already been planned out by enthusiasts in every last technical detail whether it's a return trip or one-way-only. All of the technology exists as basically off-the-shelf parts (though as rt said, replacement parts will have to be sent from Earth).

As interesting as it would be, I agree with Isaac (or was it BlackAdder?) who said planetary colonization was a waste of resources and that we're better off moving to the asteroids and constructing entire artificial habitats and then set them rotating to use inertia as a substitute for gravity. We'd only need to create one orbital factory and bring in asteroids for raw materials to make as many habs as desired and never have to worry about those pesky gravity wells at all.
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Scientists propose one way trip to Mars. - 15/11/2010 04:35:40 PM 1143 Views
I'm reading that again right now. - 15/11/2010 04:39:14 PM 659 Views
Logical, but I'll have to read it later; thanks though. - 15/11/2010 04:46:26 PM 631 Views
Interesting idea but a non-starter - 15/11/2010 05:04:38 PM 650 Views
Plenty of volunteers can be found for a suicide mission to Mars. - 15/11/2010 05:22:10 PM 654 Views
Yes... - 15/11/2010 06:42:53 PM 639 Views
yes but the government would never fund it - 15/11/2010 07:24:51 PM 655 Views
Yes, true... - 15/11/2010 08:08:41 PM 648 Views
Willing and able aren't necessarily the same thing - 16/11/2010 04:23:52 PM 607 Views
There is suicidal and then there is 'suicidal'. - 16/11/2010 05:15:52 PM 607 Views
You may know more about it than I do, but I'm not sure you're right. - 15/11/2010 06:26:16 PM 684 Views
I think you may be under estimating how much supplies two people would need to last them forty years - 15/11/2010 07:50:24 PM 655 Views
Re: I think you may be under estimating how much supplies two people would need to last them forty - 15/11/2010 10:20:48 PM 645 Views
Re: I think you may be under estimating how much supplies two people would need to last them forty - 15/11/2010 11:26:51 PM 648 Views
- 16/11/2010 10:48:39 PM 613 Views
I half-expected the body of this post to read "... for their ex-wives." *NM* - 15/11/2010 07:38:50 PM 319 Views
Ha! - 15/11/2010 08:09:06 PM 592 Views
I've been. Cold, dusty, a little dry... got some pretty pictures, though. *NM* - 15/11/2010 10:26:43 PM 267 Views
I want to go. - 16/11/2010 05:12:23 AM 624 Views
Can we nominate passengers? - 16/11/2010 01:52:06 PM 607 Views
What if we send all the people we don't like... - 16/11/2010 09:44:56 PM 593 Views
And, - 18/11/2010 08:32:02 PM 653 Views
There's a reason that I read 90% of your posts. - 20/11/2010 01:47:53 PM 624 Views
"We are on a vulnerable planet," - 20/11/2010 01:34:01 PM 785 Views

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