Wanted: Mars Colonists to Land there in 2023

Go to Mars in 39 Days

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/06/vasimr-rocket-mars_n_7009118.html?utm_hp_ref=green&ir=Green&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

3 Replies

@edgarblythe,

Quote:

“It is a rocket like no other rocket that you might have seen in the past. It is a plasma rocket," Dr. Franklin Chang-Díaz, a former shuttle astronaut and CEO of Ad Astra said in a video describing the rocket.

A plasma rocket! Sounds really high-tech, eh!?

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@edgarblythe,

As interesting as the plasma rocket concept is, i continue to despair of such projects which don't take into consideration, or don't consider important the shielding of humans and computer systems from radiation, and the need to ameliorate the effects of micro-gravity. Who would want to go to Mars, or anywhere else, in a mission designed by people who apparently don't care if you live or die?

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Quote:

...projects which don't take into consideration, or don't consider important the shielding of humans and computer systems from radiation, and the need to ameliorate the effects of micro-gravity... [They] don't care if you live or die.

Yeah, clearly the people who contemplate these projects, "don't consider" these things. They probably never even heard of them, I betcha. They don't even care to know, probably. Only brilliant, caring people (like the poster here) would ever think about that.

When you're that kind of person, what can you do, other than "despair," I ask ya?

Off topic: Anybody seen my crown of thorns around here? I seem to have misplaced it.

1 Reply

@layman,

You're a snide son of a bitch--leaving aside that i wasn't speaking to you, i would point out, Einstein, that i was referring to a blog post which i linked earlier in the thread, in which it was made clear that people contemplating such missions are not, apparently, interested in micro-gravity mitigation and shielding from radiation. Not, of course, that it reasonable to expect you to keep up with what has been posted here, when you see an opporunity to sneer at someone else, in the hope of provoking a brawl, which more and more seems to be the only reason you came here.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

A blog post! Yeah, I haven't seen that. Snide? I guess you could say that. Or you could just say that I find the assertion that such things aren't even considered to be prima facie ridiculous.

But, then again, I haven't seen the blog post. Lemme look for it...

1 Reply

@layman,

This "blog post?"

Quote:

What appalled me about this conference is tta people seem to actually contemplate sending people to Mars without heavy shielding and without attempting to compensate for the microgravity. They should recruit terminally ill astronauts. What idiots--A major solar flare could hit the space craft with lethal dosages of radiation. The vessel might get there, but the crew would have died a horrible, painful death. EMP from a huge solar flare event could also easily wipe their electronics, leaving them without computers. What kind of idiots plan these things?

You don't give any kind of link. Who said that, when, and where?

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Buzzfeed article: Mars Missions Are A Scam

This article at Space dot com includes a video about radiation exposure to solar radiation which concludes that an 8 1/2 month mission would expose passengers to a higher dose, without any extraordinary solar flares, than the lifetime maximum exposure limit set by NASA.

Given the goofy nature of groups like Mars One, and the possibility of corporate-sponsored missions, from the bottom line capitalist crowd, i don't think the safety factors are reasonably considered. A large solar flare while a mission were in transit to Mars would give the people on board a radiation dosage which would kill them in a few months, a few weeks or even only a few days, depending upon the size of the flare.

But i'm sure that smart-ass internet bullies know more about these topics, huh?

1 Reply

Yes, i saw that i had not included the link to the DC conference which was discussed in the blog post, from CBC's Quirks and Quarks. a highly respected science program. That's why i posted other material i found links for at the Quirks and Quarks web site. If i find it, i'll post the link. I'm not inclined, however, to do much work for smart-mouthed, hateful would-be bullies.

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@Setanta,

Hmmm, a claim made by a "reality TV project" is supposed to be taken seriously?

Quote:

Last week, the nonprofit reality-television project Mars One announced its selection of 100 volunteers who may get one-way tickets to Mars...

How quaint.

Quote:

But all of that is mostly theater, political scientist Alan Steinberg of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, told BuzzFeed News.

But their lives would last only about 68 days, according to a study published last year. “Keeping people alive on Mars is a lot harder problem than most people realize,” MIT aerospace engineer Sydney Do, one of the study’s authors, told BuzzFeed News. “I think it will happen eventually — people will go to Mars,” Do said. But “Mars One is not going to be the one.”

Like, whooda thunk, eh?

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Bob McDonald's blog post, for the wise ass in the crowd.

Quote:

Interplanetary travel is also physically unhealthy, due to exposure to solar and cosmic radiation. Instruments on robots that have been to Mars have shown that outside the Earth's protective magnetic field, astronauts would be exposed to more radiation on the way to Mars than is currently allowed by safety guidelines on Earth. Once on the surface, they would be exposed to even more radiation because that planet has a very thin atmosphere and extremely weak magnetic field. A younger crew could have their reproductive systems damaged by the exposure.

I've spent the last several years reading up on this topic online and in print. The clowns who are touting their Mars missions either don't care about the crews they would send, or they really are too stupid to do the endeavor correctly. At the low spots on Mars, radiation exposure is mitigated only by about 15 millibars of atmosphere. The atmosphere at sea level on earth has an average pressure of more than 1013 millibars. There is almost no magnetic field around Mars, whereas the magnetic field around the earth is sufficient to stop most common, day-to-day radiation falls. Do the math yourself, genius.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Quote:

Bob McDonald's blog post,

Kinda strange that Mr. McDonald, after discussing some of the obstacles to be overcome, concludes: "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't go."

He also notes that "NASA officials [took] a hard look at sending humans to Mars."

But, I must assume, if I give your post any credence, that this "hard look" did not even consider, or care about, the problems you mentioned.

Go figure, eh?

1 Reply

@layman,

Listen, Einstein, the topic of this thread is the Mars One project. So that's what we're talking about here--not NASA, not ESA, not Glavcosmos--Mars One. So, before you dive into a thread, and start shooting your idiot, hateful mouth off at other members, it might be a good idea to find out what the topic of the thread is.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Quote:

As interesting as the plasma rocket concept is, i continue to despair of such projects which don't take into consideration...

Hmm, it seems that "such projects" just happen to be contemplated by NASA, eh? Did "Mars One" develop the plasma rocket which you explicitly refer to in your post also?

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" . . . in you post . . ." ? Oh yeah, it's a genius i'm dealing with here.

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@edgarblythe,

Just FYI... The VASIMR plasma drive is an improved version of an Ion Drive system (which have been around for years).

edgarblythe wrote:

Go to Mars in 39 Days

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/06/vasimr-rocket-mars_n_7009118.html?utm_hp_ref=green&ir=Green&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

0 Replies

I find it interesting that NASA wants to "capture" an asteroid. I'm assuming that would be a n9-crew mission. We could learn a lot about technique from such a mission. I hate to say it, but i think people should forget this Mars **** for a half a century at least, and, realistically, for a century. I really don't see any of these jokers, including NASA, showing a reasonable attitude toward shielding the crew and mitigating micro-gravity.

1 Reply

@edgarblythe,

I know many people I'd like to go on a one way trip to Mars

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@hater,

This is what gets me. I saw one show on this, the plan to deal with someone who loses it mentally due to long term confinement? Duct Tape

I see lots of BS artist renderings of colonies on Mars, they simply won't work. I'd think they would dig a starter colony into the side of a steep crater as a place to begin. The first to get there would have to be robots to set up a colony for the first humans. I think a man and a woman, next they send a relationship conselor to deal with the man and woman.

1 Reply

@Swampie,

or a cat to level out the woman

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