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SpaceX Intends To Send a Red Dragon To Mars As Early As 2018 (blastingnews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the fuelling-life-on-Mars-101 dept.

Reader MarkWhittington writes: SpaceX has announced that it intends to send a version of its Dragon spacecraft, called "Red Dragon," to Mars as early as 2018. The mission, to be launched on top of a Falcon Heavy rocket, would be the first to another planet conducted by a commercial enterprise. The flight of the Red Dragon would be the beginning of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's long-term dream of building a settlement on Mars.Ars Technica reports: According to the company, these initial test missions will help demonstrate the technologies needed to land large payloads propulsively on Mars. This series of missions, to be launched on the company's not-yet-completed Falcon Heavy rocket, will provide key data for SpaceX as the company develops an overall plan to send humans to the Red Planet to colonize Mars. One of the biggest challenges in landing on Mars is the fact that its atmosphere is so thin it provides little braking capacity. To land the 900kg Curiosity rover on Mars, NASA had to devise the complicated sky crane system that led to its "Seven Minutes of Terror." A Dragon would weigh much more, perhaps about 6,000kg. To solve this problem, SpaceX plans to use an upgraded spacecraft, a Dragon2 powered by eight SuperDraco engines, to land using propulsion.

6 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. as early as, but not before by rdelsambuco · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So they're pretty much guaranteed to meet their goal.

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    I comment occasionally so that I can mod others -1 overrated or -1 offtopic.
    1. Re:as early as, but not before by NotDrWho · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't know what you're complaining about, the statement made it crystal clear that it would launch at some point between 2018 and never. How much more specific do you need??

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      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  2. bonus points for the church organ version by Thud457 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is it going to play a 13-minute version of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida after successfully landing?

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    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  3. A good start by deadwill69 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think he is off to a good start. Don't know about the time table. He has successfully shown that he can perform this type of lift and landing. He's not demonstrated reliability just yet, but he has been successful and this looks to be the beginning of a pattern. He has shown that he can perform second stage upper orbit capabilities so this one should just require the larger rocket. It's a little behind schedule, but barring any major setbacks, he and his crew should be able to perform a limited landing in the near future. Less than two years? Hopeful but not optimistic.

  4. Shouldn't use a Red Dragon by sconeu · · Score: 3, Funny

    Since Red Dragons are Chaotic Evil, it seems that they might lose control of it. They should send a Gold Dragon instead, since they're Lawful Good.

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    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    1. Re:Shouldn't use a Red Dragon by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 4, Informative

      I would actually suggest either Bronze or Copper...probably a Copper Dragon, since they like deserts and dry, rocky mountains. Their Chaotic Good, which is better as a pioneering adventurer than Lawful Good.