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We really ought to have gone to Mars by now - we've lived here for several billion years, and so far we haven't even visited the neighbours - how rude.
One of the problems with going to Mars, of course, is that it's quite a long way to go - more than a hundred times as far as the Moon. Building a
ship that's capable of hosting a crew safely for many, many months is tricky.
At the same time, though, we have the ISS just floating around in Earth orbit. We know that people can survive on the ISS, fairly comfortably, for very long periods of time. The record for space endurance was set on Mir (which was smaller than the ISS), and was about 14 months.
The ISS is also pretty good - way better than regular spaceships - in terms of redundant systems. It's big enough and complex enough that the number of system failures is fairly constant, and most failures are not fatal. There have been fires, leaks and numerous breakdowns on the ISS over the years, but none (yet) has proven disastrous. In contrast, many such incidents on a small, regular spaceship would have been potentially fatal.
So, here's what we do. First, we send up a whole bunch of boosters to the ISS and bolt them on. We also bolt on a Mars lander/ascender or two, for later. Oh, and a few extra containers of food, water and oxygen. (The ISS is quite good at recycling water and air, so it won't need vast reserves of these.) All this can be done over the course of months or even years, riding out fluctuations in budgets.
Next, we fire up the boosters and point the thing at Mars. The boosters will have to be very low-thrust, long-burning rockets, because the ISS isn't designed to withstand large accelerations - but that's OK. If the thrust is applied over a few days or even weeks, it'll be fine.
Once we get to Mars, we pop the ISS into Mars orbit (again using a very gentle acceleration to do so), and then hang around for a few weeks looking at the scenery and checking out systems. When we're ready, we hop into the lander and nip down to the surface to do a bit of exploring. The crew can be large enough that a team can stay in the ISS while the other lot are out shopping.
The return mission is much the same as the outbound mission, but in reverse.
The advantage of sending the ISS is that it's a large, well-resourced and well-tested ship with proven ability to sustain life for months at a time. And, when it gets back, it can go back into Earth orbit and carry on as before.
Put the Hubble on the ISS
Put_20The_20Hubble_20On_20The_20ISS
[theircompetitor, Jan 21 2018]
Golgafrincham Ark Fleet Ship B
https://hitchhikers...an_Ark_Fleet_Ship_B
" ... designed to relocate the (largely redundant) useless part of the population... " [8th of 7, Nov 03 2020]
[link]
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Like it, maybe the powers that be would have thought of it
too but for politics on Earth, tricky because I guess it’s
owned by different governments (?) bit like getting UN to
move on something.. wonder what NASA gets left with if
they do ISS brexit and divorce from the other owners.
Maybe a punctured space suit to fly to mars in and a hefty
‘separation bill’. |
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Or maybe they are allowed the whole space station just so
long as they stick the Russian flag and a statue of Putin into
mars |
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That's an easy one. It's the Republic of Ireland. Next? |
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The crew of the ISS discuss this option in Neal Stephenson's Seveneves after the Earth blows up one day. They decide not to bother in the end. |
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// so far we haven't even visited the neighbours - how rude // |
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Consider the scenario where you are a car owner and driver, and a resident of Towcester. With very little effort, in a few minutes you can be in Milton
Keynes. |
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The journey is, in itself, trivial. The overarching question would be "Why ?" |
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Why would anyone, even someone with serious mental health issues, go to Milton Keynes ? |
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Similarly, Mars is a cold, bleak, desolate wasteland with no atmosphere, no intelligent life, and nothing to recommend it as a travel destination. |
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Oh, no, sorry, that's Milton Keynes. The views at sunrise and sunset from the top of Olympus Mons on Mars are definitely worth seeing. |
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//Neal Stephenson's Seveneves // Damn damn damn. Every time I have a brilliant idea, some bastard jumps in an pre-invents it. |
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Tell me in more detail about the escape from Mars
surface bit. I'm curious as to how that works. |
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They'd certainly be well tanned, inside and out. |
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//detail about the escape from Mars surface bit.// It works by using an upulator. |
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Just noticed the relevant word ‘hijack’ which invalidates
my earlier comments about international cooperation or
lack thereof.
This could be sold as a project to Al-kaida or better yet ISS-
IS, who could have the necessary hijacking experience. But
instead of crashing into Mars encourage them to try for a
caliphate there |
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We question if a very public multinational project lasting many years and totally reliant on cooperation and informed consent can actually be described as "hijacking" ... |
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How many orbits of other satellites will be intersected by
this gradual movement of the ISS, as it leaves Earth? And
what of the fact that Earth micro-organisms are likely
already at Mars (courtesy of events like the Chicxulub
impact)? |
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//How many orbits of other satellites will be intersected by this gradual movement of the ISS, as it leaves Earth? // |
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In total, probably about none. |
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//Earth micro-organisms are likely already at Mars// Yes, agreed. If we do discover past or present life on Mars, I think it's likeliest to share a common ancestor with terrestrial life. Of course, the question will then become whether life started on Mars and hopped to Earth, or vice versa. |
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Hmm... could we convince Isis that we have indeed
found the perfect planet for them to rule, and ship
as many as will fit inside a mock rocket? It doesn't
really have to fly, just look convincing and be
equipped with enough C4 to blow them straight to
paradise. |
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[+] This could even help with politics. Knowing that there are humans out
in the orbit of Mars would likely shift the attention of nations away from
conflicts, and towards defeating the odds in the presence of Fermi
paradox. The reality show around the orbit of another planet.. and
communication delays, so fun! The sooner the better. |
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This really is a brilliant idea. Gonna take a year
plus to get there and since we can’t use the
Mars atmosphere to slow ourselves into orbit we’d
need to carry the same amount of fuel we used to
get there to brake but the fact that the thing’s
already built and tested might still make it worth
while. I’d break it down into its original launch
components and strap boosters and steering
thrusters on it. Plus breaking it up into
individual components would add a margin of
safety, if one component doesn’t make it the
whole program isn’t shot. |
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Just set up shop on Phobos : avoid the whole "burn up in the atmosphere" thing. What's UberTreats charge for that kind of thing ? |
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Now's the time, and the time is now. US Presidential
election, population needs something to galvanize them,
a trip to Mars is just the thing. |
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To help with supplies, we'd just need enough water to
recycle for the trip out; as water has recently been
discovered on Mars just tell the crew to tank up before
returning, right? And a Cuisinart to grind up Martian soil
for necessary dietary minerals would help too. |
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To help with the galvanizing (without chemicals) we'd
need someone good with speeches. A politician. They
could be the crew. The entire crew. |
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Prior Art, [what] … <link>. |
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