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Will Mars be a One-way Trip?
alexj33 writes "Will humans ever really go to Mars? Let's face it, the obstacles are quite daunting. Not only are there numerous, difficult, technical issues to overcome, but the political will and perseverance of any one nation to undertake such an arduous task is huge. However, one former NASA engineer believes a human mission to Mars is quite possible, and such an event would unify the world as never before. But Jim McLane's proposal includes a couple of major caveats: the trip to Mars should be one-way, and have a crew of only one person."
And that man should be genetically engineered to live on Mars all by himself! And have a backpack computer that talks to another computer in Mars orbit!
Hmmmn, where have I heard that before...
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Charles Lindbergh is supposed be the inspiration for this, but the guy knows jack about him. Lindbergh didn't set out to do a risky stunt. He was contending for the Orteig prize for the first aircraft to fly New York/Paris (either way) non-stop. Several previous attempts had ended tragically, and Lindbergh was convinced they failed because previous designers had not paid enough attention to various safety margins, especially those relating to weight and fuel. Thus he designed a plane that put fuel tanks in every conceivable space (including the place where any other aircraft would have had a windshield!) and did everything he could think of to minimize weight.
That's why he flew alone: it's not that hard to stay awake for 36 hours, and so he saw a co-pilot as unnecessary extra weight.
Ironically, he got lucky and didn't drift off course as much as he assumed he would, arriving at Paris with enough leftover fuel to continue to Rome. But he designed his plane on the assumption that he would not be lucky. He was a safety-first guy, that's why he succeeded where others failed. It ridiculous to associate him with this insane proposal.
The slashdotted article has a few details not in the summary, including:
So it's more of an advanced scout mission, though the chance of returning is very low
Who said Freedom was Fair?
Wikipedia cites anthropologist John H. Moore as saying the minimum reasonable size is around 170. I'm assuming these individuals would be measurably unrelated.
But then again, I could be wrong.
Werner von Braun's plan for going to Mars was published in the 1950s. It's worth reviewing it.
Ah, the good old days of industrial production. If China does a Mars program, it might look like that.
>>NASA does not sterilize probes it sends.
> Yes, they do.
No, they don't. Please read up on what "sterilize" means and stop spreading misinformation.
Oh, heck, you probably would have done it by now if you were going to.
Sterilize = kill ALL bacteria. You can put something that has been sterilized in your bloodstream and not get direct infection or exposure to bacteria.
Sanitize = kill bacterial to a certain threshold or standard, or kill harmful bacteria. You can lick something that has been sanitized and probably not get sick. However, if you cultured that hospital toilet seat, you can be sure you'd get bacteria.
Bioload reduction = "We're pretty much sure that it is not covered in stool or loads of harmful bacteria, but beyond that can't say."
It is almost impossible to build something the size of Mars rovers and have it be STERILE. Anything exposed to general atmosphere for over 20 seconds or so is no longer sterile. Even in the O.R. (which has special filters and a non-recirculating atmosphere) things exposed to the air for prolonged period are considered unsterile. If any of you guys worked in a bio lab, open up a can of L.B. broth, and walk away. After 20 minutes, recap it. What happens?
I really appreciate whoever sent me the planetary protection link, and it confirmed what I thought. We are *very* concerned about bringing foreign / alien bacteria here, but it is just about impossible to keep us from spreading our own throughout the universe.
Slashdotter, ID #101. UIDs are in binary, right?
Why does he need to stay alive once he gets there? Can't he just walk around Mars and record what he sees and send it back to earth until he runs out of supplies and dies? I mean I would probably go to Mars and look around a place no one has ever been to if it meant I would be remembered as "that guy who went to Mars and just walked around until he died," and I'm only slightly insane. I bet you could find someone crazy enough to do it and still smart enough to keep the spaceship running.
You all are looking at this in completely the wrong way. The cost of getting stuff up into space doesn't have to be significant. We can send tonnes and tonnes and tonnes of crap up there relatively inexpensively, and the vehicle to do it would be reusable and have a significant lifetime. Just build an Orion spaceship. Piece of cake. We can send thousands of people up, tonnes of supplies.. heck we could launch an entire colony in one shot, and not really have to worry much about carefully conserving every gram of fuel.
What's an Orion?
Glad you asked: Orion Spacecraft Rule
Nuclear pulse propulsion behind giant push-plates on springs, man! With a payload measured by the tonne rather than the kilo!
You're probably assuming that Mars has a higher gravity than it does. The mass of Mars is only a tenth (yes, really!) of Earth's. In fact, Mars has almost the same surface gravity on tiny Mercury (3.7 m/s/s for both), which is closer to the surface gravity on the moon (1.6 m/s/s/) than the surface gravity on Earth (9.8 m/s/s). You also need less than half the escape velocity to leave Mars' gravity well compared to Earth.
There's a widespread common belief that Mars is a sibling planet of Earth, just a little smaller. This is far from the case. It's a very tiny planet compared to Earth and Venus, and much more like Mercury and the asteroids than the two big dirtballs. It doesn't even qualify for being a planet based on the new rules (keeping its orbit clear of other stellar objects) -- Phobos and Deimos are evidence for that.
If Venus hadn't been so darn inhospitable, it would have been a much more logical place to visit -- it's a true sister planet, unlike Mars.
Actually, all three were fake. The real ones were hidden underneath.