NASA's Next Steps in the Journey to Mars

These are exciting times to be alive, eh?

The Space Launch System is an interesting rocket.

The first stage of the rocket will be a "Space Shuttle External Fuel Tank" with four "Space Shuttle Main Engines" grafted to the bottom of it.

The booster rockets will at least initially be "Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters". However later on we might replace the boosters with kerosene-burning versions that will each have two "Saturn V Main Engines" in them.

The second stage will be based on the "Saturn V Third Stage" (although with four smaller engines instead of a single big engine).


But there is a problem. Congress is seriously underfunding the development of the rocket. Unless NASA gets a cash infusion, development of this rocket is going to slip further and further behind schedule.

I'm surprised, that NASA's measurements on understanding how to project humans from deep space radiation hasn't even really started yet!? What are they doing there then? I suppose that would be the up most important thing before anything else. I mean, what's the use of sending humans there if they will die in cancer immediately....

Yeah. I'm sure, that making a film called The Martian isn't a coincidence here. NASA needs money and people.

P.S. I haven't seen the movie yet, but should I ?

I haven't seen it yet, either. Hope nobody posts spoilers...

I heard, that there is at least one major error in the film...there is a scene, where the wind is very hard like a storm. That cannot be true, because the atmosphere in Mars is so thin, that could never happen.

Yes, go see the movie, it is excellent (the book is better still). No, the movie was not planned by NASA, it is based on a best selling book. Yes, the sand storm at the beginning is made up, the author admitted that since he needed something to start the book.

It's all filmed on Earth. No one actually goes to Mars!

I might as well do that

The movie has people jazzed up about Mars and NASA certainly used the hype to help that along. I'm in the camp that believes humans will never survive the trip there, much less make it back. Too many things that can go wrong.....even if you solve problems one by one as Matt Damon says in the movie.