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Russia Planning Double Mission to Mars
dylanduck writes "Apparently Russia has revived a previous plan to send a spacecraft to Phobos, a tiny Martian moon. Turns out it's a cool place to land - much easier than the surface as far less deceleration is needed, it should have plenty of Mars rocks spattered on the surface and it's just 9000km above the surface. Some think it the perfect place for a Mars moonbase." From the article: "A mission devoted to the moons could explain how the satellites are held together - whether they are piles of rubble loosely held together by gravity or solid chunks. Most scientists assume the heavily cratered moons are captured asteroids, Christensen told New Scientist. But it is actually quite hard for a planet to capture an object into its orbit - most things just skim by. 'So how it got there is a bit of an enigma,' Christensen says."
Once more, panic swept across our fair world when it was revealed by the Council that the invaders from the evil blue planet intend to assault our innermost fortress satellite.
The fortress satellites, which have stood guard over our world since the Council placed them into orbit over ninety Great Cycles ago, have easily fought off all invaders in the past. Against the cunning machines manufactured by the disgusting water bags inhabiting the evil blue planet, however, the fortress satellites may be more vulnerable than previously thought.
K'Breel, Speaker for the Council, stressed that there was no cause for alarm:
When asked if rumours were true that the faction of blue-planet-inhabitants responsible for the threatened invasion was the same as the one who had just recently failed utterly to launch a primitive solar sail device into space, K'Breel laughed maniacally.
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
If they forget the shotgun they'll be screwed on like the fourth lebvel.
I think we have to hope for leather godesses, but plan for daemons.
-Peter
Slightly offtopic, but not too far considering the Russian's work in this area. The other day I was poking around to provide some references for the M2P2 technology when I ran across this little beauty. This electric thruster makes Ion engines look downright primitive. According to the various articles, this engine would provide a specific impluse as high as 11,000 (one of the most efficient designs ever created!), but with a relatively high thrust ratio. According to NASA's webpage, they have been testing a workbench model at powers of up to 30 Mw (!), and they believe that such engines could be used for both deep space missions to Mars, as well as providing more efficient second stage engines for ground launched vehicles.
Apparently the Russians have done significant work on this area, and continues to perform experiements on behalf of JPL. It's quite possible that the development of this engine could have an even greater effect on space travel than the Ion engine did!
The only downside to this engine is that it will be likely to require a nuclear reactor for power. This increases weight and adds the danger of a nuclear reactor. The upshot to this is that it is inherently safer than the Orion or NERVA engines, doesn't polute, and can go to Mars and back several times on the same tank of lithium! (Delta-V from LEO to Mars Orbit is about 3900 m/s. Do your own calcs on what that means for an engine with an ISP of 11,000 and a craft that is a mere 25% gas tank.)
Once again, I'm amazed at the technology already in our posession, or close to being so. Now more than ever, I really feel that we're on the cusp of a true space age.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
In Soviet Russia, all of us are belong to base.
Except for that pesky lightspeed delay.
End of lesson. You may press the button.
PING earth.ssnet (3ffe:ffff:100:f101::1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from earth.ssnet (3ffe:ffff:100:f101::1): icmp_seq=1 ttl=52 time=14412874.9 ms
64 bytes from earth.ssnet (3ffe:ffff:100:f101::1): icmp_seq=2 ttl=52 time=14412872.3 ms
64 bytes from earth.ssnet (3ffe:ffff:100:f101::1): icmp_seq=3 ttl=52 time=14412876.2 ms
64 bytes from earth.ssnet (3ffe:ffff:100:f101::1): icmp_seq=4 ttl=52 time=14412874.3 ms
I call shenanigans. Nobody uses IPv6