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Window on Mars - Can Orobes Dig Out More Info?

Posted by Hemos on from the digging-deeply dept.

OldTurkeyBuzzard writes " All telescopes are tuned to Mars as it draws nearer Earth than at any time in recorded history. The record-setting date is Aug. 27...... This newspaper article throws more light on the efforts to gather more information about the red planet when it approaches very close to us. "

8 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Picture of Earth and Moon from Mars by rodney+dill · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The picture has already been referenced by /. and a bunch of other resources, but the Astronomy Picture of the Day has a nice blow up of the picture today.


    Beware this is just a distraction, with all eyes towards Mars, Venus is planning a sneak attack!

    --

    Use your head, can't you, use your head,
    You're on earth, there's no cure for that     - S. Beckett
  2. How close? by inaeldi · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I couldn't find anything in the article, but does anyone know just how close it's going to be compared to usual? Just because it's the closest in 60,000 years or whatever it is doesn't mean that the majority of people could even notice a difference.

  3. Tuning in by stray · · Score: 2, Interesting

    All telescopes are tuned to Mars [..]


    not to pick nits, but can you "tune" a telescope to mars? is that what they do with radio telescopes?

  4. Mars Attracts!! by moehoward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Will there be any noticeable gravitational effects near Earth? Moon? Asteroids? Space junk?

    I guess I'm asking if there is any remotely-possible-disaster angle that the press will be able to play up on this. 2 years ago, we had the summer of the shark. I'd love to see this summer be "The Summer of Colliding Worlds". We need something. Hollywood is going all sequel on us this year.

    --
    "If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
  5. Misdirected Efforts by Ignorant+Aardvark · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Mars is all well and good, but I really think we should be focusing on the Moon! Mars is so much farther away it takes half a year to get there. The Moon, on the other hand, only takes two days. And if anything goes wrong, the Moon is actually close enough we might be able to get there in time to do something about it.

    I don't see a problem with sending "orobes" to Mars, because it's always good to know something just for the sake of knowing, but knowledge of the Moon is much more practical. We've had the technology for decades to establish a Lunar colony . Why didn't we? There's water, and therefore oxygen, and most of the metals you could possibly desire all on the Moon. We should establish a Lunar colony first, and then worry about manned missions to Mars.



    A space elevator wouldn't hurt either.
    --
    Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
    1. Re:Misdirected Efforts by VanillaCoke420 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And to cut the costs for transporting to and from the moon, we could use a system with three or four huge spaceships that would never land, but rather travel in a similar trajectory as the Apollo ships did. Then, when you want to send something from Earth to the moon, just launch it to dock with the spaceship. Kinda like having trains where you throw the stuff onto it without the train ever stopping. Then when it arrives at the moon, just undock the module then land it on the moon. This way you could transport passenger modules and freight modules and raw materials or whatever... You would only have to launch it into orbit once and then let it piggy back to or from the moon. Just an idea I had, maybe it could work?

  6. Re:Beagle 2 by VanillaCoke420 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One thing that I love about this whole thing is that the missions seem to complement each other. Interesting is also that they will be able to use each others orbiting crafts as relay stations.

  7. Re:Not to be cheesy, but... by earthforce_1 · · Score: 5, Interesting


    I have seen what the trajectory for a mission to mars would be like - It makes no difference that mars is closer to earth, because the spacecraft cannot fly in a straight line between the two worlds unless we managed to develop a far more powerful propulsion system. You have to fly in a spiral trajectory around the sun that would only intercept mars after a year, and spend a year or so on the planet to wait for earth to be in the right position for the return flight. You would then leave mars to orbit around the sun, firing thrusters in reverse to spiral in an intercept the earth after another year or so. The total mission time would run from 3 to 5 years.

    That is why going to mars is so much harder than going to the moon. The astronauts have to be kept alive and sane for years, not weeks as was the case with Apollo.

    --
    My rights don't need management.