Orion launch today

[95EagleAWD]

The new capsule that is supposed to take people to Mars is going to space on a Delta IV rocket at 5:05 this morning.

You can watch live here: http://mobile.nasa.gov/content/watch-nasa-tv/

[ZenOps]

Now that is doable, assuming that the people that want to go to Mars never intend to come back.

The capability to come back, would require an entire NASA groundstation and launcher (with two million pounds of fuel to re-takeoff back to earth) be built on mars - with all of the water and food support as well.

Logistically possible, but once done - they do realize that its going to be 1,000x tougher than trying to drop deliver a 4-gallon bucket of food in Antarctica (which is a 1/20 chance of failure as far as statistics go.)

Reloading a station on Mars would be incredibly difficult, I mean really, they finally figured out where that lost rover landed on the moon - 40 years later, lol.

http://www.gizmag.com/nasa-finds-lost-soviet-lunar-rover/15382/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator_economics

At a 2014 cost to LEO of $15,000 per kilogram, its doable - if not expensive. Dunno what the people on foodstamps would say about it though. One could argue that at least a satellite provides some service to the people (TV and internet), but a one time shot to mars or the moon? Sounds awfully Bourgeoisie.

[cet]

Launch was delayed a couple of times. Final try for today is at 9:44am ET

EDIT: canceled for today, they will try again tomorrow.

[BavarianBeast]

Reminds me of the hubble launch, spent 2 days in Orlando trying to see the damned thing take off.

[Feruk]

Originally posted by ZenOps
Now that is doable, assuming that the people that want to go to Mars never intend to come back.

The capability to come back, would require an entire NASA groundstation and launcher (with two million pounds of fuel to re-takeoff back to earth) be built on mars - with all of the water and food support as well.

Logistically possible, but once done - they do realize that its going to be 1,000x tougher than trying to drop deliver a 4-gallon bucket of food in Antarctica (which is a 1/20 chance of failure as far as statistics go.)

Reloading a station on Mars would be incredibly difficult, I mean really, they finally figured out where that lost rover landed on the moon - 40 years later, lol.
In the return (or even colony) scenario, all the equipment is sent ahead. If it doesn't land correctly, you delay a few years. You only need water and sunlight on Mars to produce all the power, oxygen, drinking fluid, and rocket fuel that people will need. I'm certainly not saying it's easy, but it is very much doable. Solar radiation on Mars on the other hand... that'll be the real problem in any permanent settlement.


Originally posted by ZenOps
At a 2014 cost to LEO of $15,000 per kilogram, its doable - if not expensive. Dunno what the people on foodstamps would say about it though. One could argue that at least a satellite provides some service to the people (TV and internet), but a one time shot to mars or the moon? Sounds awfully Bourgeoisie.
This is one of the downsides to democracy. We're totally fine spending money on food stamps for poor people or military hardware to go kill some moslams, but the space program is a different story. Sooner or (far far) later there will be a catastrophic event on Earth at which point food stamps and bombing moslams will be of no significance, but the space program will dictate extinction or survival. We have to be less short sighted.

[Sentry]

Capsules eh. Back to 60s design philosophy.

In the meantime, the Russians never stopped using 60s designs and have had more success for less cost. :rofl:

[Robin Goodfellow]

I resent the name of this rocket as "Orion".

It risks obscuring Freeman Dyson's "Orion Project", which rates on the top ten list of fuck-awesome ideas.

The Origin project investigated creating a spacecraft design that was essentially a giant metal plate with a nuke strapped to the bottom.

"All aboard!"

[Gman.45]

I think that if a Mars mission was going to entertain returning those who venture forward back to earth, the simplest way to do it would be to have a ship/module that would enter mars orbit. Then it would launch a smaller landing module which would land on the surface, work as a habitat/lab/etc for a long period of time, but also be used as a lifting vehicle to return to the orbiting mothership, which would contain enough fuel and supplies for a return voyage to earth.

Having a single vehicle travel to Mars, land on Mars, then lift off of Mars, then boost itself out of orbit and back on a trajectory to earth = far to ambitious, but considering they've already launched orbiter to Mars that have dropped various crawlers and other vehicles, it shouldn't be too hard to set things up so that a drop ship or vehicle can re dock with that mothership, and have enough fuel/logistics on board for a return trip. Just my opinion.