dutch are going to mars-

[Penn]

http://www.mars-one.com/

2018. wanna go?

 

[ancona]

Penn, Since I work at NASA, I can tell you that there are no current plans to send any humans to mars. The logistics would boggle your mind. Any trip to Mars is a suicide mission of the highest order.

 

[pmbug]

I've worked on a desert island for months at a time. I understand isolation from everyone I know and love. No thanks.

 

[Penn]

Penn, Since I work at NASA, I can tell you that there are no current plans to send any humans to mars. The logistics would boggle your mind. Any trip to Mars is a suicide mission of the highest order.

have a look at their website. it sounds planned out

 

[mike]

I think what ancona is referring to is that currently there isn't enough radiation shielding to protect people for the 8-month journey. They will be fried chicken by the time they get there.

 

[ancona]

Exactly Mike.
Although we just shot a capsule through the lower VanAllen Radiation Belt, it will be a bit of time before we know with any kind of certainty how much exposure can be expected. Back when we were regularly sending up Apollo capsules we didn't have anything close to the detection capability we have now. My firm has a small cabinet that houses various instruments that do the work of an entire warehouse of equipment did when we were launching to the moon.

All that said, I see no utility in blowing a half a trillion dollars to get a mission safely to mars. I would rather see our space efforts dedicated to studying what is in our reach from Earth, and to do so with some purpose in mind, and not just launch rockets to avoid laying off government employees.

 

[11C1P]

My grandfather and uncle used to believe the moon landing was fake, I always figured they were just paranoid. The last several years though it's been interesting to see how they need to develop better shielding to get past the van allen belt, but don't seem to mention how they did it to get to the moon back in the 60's in craft that were made of nothing more than tinfoil. Besides barry gave nasa it's new marching orders his 1st year in office to become ambassadors to islam. Who knows if we ever get a decent president we'll spend more money on space exploration than giving it to illegal aliens.

 

[dontdeBasemebro]

My grandfather and uncle used to believe the moon landing was fake, I always figured they were just paranoid. The last several years though it's been interesting to see how they need to develop better shielding to get past the van allen belt, but don't seem to mention how they did it to get to the moon back in the 60's in craft that were made of nothing more than tinfoil. Besides barry gave nasa it's new marching orders his 1st year in office to become ambassadors to islam. Who knows if we ever get a decent president we'll spend more money on space exploration than giving it to illegal aliens.

They did it by exposing the astronauts to radiation. The missions were short, which helped keep overall exposure down. Astronauts in LEO also get higher than normal doses, as do people who fly frequently. Radiation is part of the many risks of space flight.

 

[11C1P]

They did it by exposing the astronauts to radiation. The missions were short, which helped keep overall exposure down. Astronauts in LEO also get higher than normal doses, as do people who fly frequently. Radiation is part of the many risks of space flight.

The amount of radiation outside the van allen belt is supposed to be exponentially higher than when inside the cocoon of it. The amount of radiation abosorbed by staying out of it for several days as did the astronauts who walked on the moon should've at least caused a lot of serious health issues, but generally if they don't burn up or blow up on a mission, they live longer than average. The many workers who worked at chernobyl died in a matter of months and miserably at that, so either they are lying about the effects of radiation from the sun, the amount of protection offered by the van allen belt or landing on the moon.

 

[Penn]

...dudes. who said they have to come back?

Find 20 folks who are tip top- and would like to leave the family $ a million or 5. Make no assumption they will come back.

Some will do this just to get their name in history.

7 guys died building a stadium. In fact they factor that in. We could spend 100 guys on such a mission.

Someone would volunteer. You also have how many that only have 6 months to live- they could go too.

We should have been there by now. Steve Quale thinks we have. I doubt we have. But it could happen very fast if they did not care about coming back.

 

[Potemkin]

If the global economy collapses, I'll reserve a ticket.

 

[mike]

Jumping to Mars before making a moon base, or giant space stations first, seems kind of illogical to me.

 

[11C1P]

Jumping to Mars before making a moon base, or giant space stations first, seems kind of illogical to me.

I agree. Seems also they could do long term radiation testing on their shields on a moon base. Not to mention get a lot of science done and set up a storage spot load up supplies for a mars launch. Lot easier to launch a fully loaded craft from the moon, or an empty craft from earth and rendezvous with supplies for the longer mission on the moon. Gotta be a smarter way that just sending up an Atlas rocket on steroids to get there.

 

[mike]

I agree. Seems also they could do long term radiation testing on their shields on a moon base. Not to mention get a lot of science done and set up a storage spot load up supplies for a mars launch. Lot easier to launch a fully loaded craft from the moon, or an empty craft from earth and rendezvous with supplies for the longer mission on the moon. Gotta be a smarter way that just sending up an Atlas rocket on steroids to get there.

Exactly. We need to be building and launching from space or the moon, so they can make huge ships and travel in style.

 

[11C1P]

I think the first moon base should either be named moonbase "Alice" as in "To the moon Alice!" that could also keep a phonetical theme to any further bases, or they could go with "Armstrong" or even "Armstrong-Gagarin". I know Gagarin isn't American, but the man was the first human in space so his bravery or place in history should not be overlooked.

 

[pmbug]

One hundred people are still in the running to become humanity's first Mars explorers.

The Netherlands-based nonprofit Mars One, which aims to land four pioneers on the Red Planet in 2025 as the vanguard of a permanent colony, has whittled its pool of astronaut candidates down to 100, organization representatives announced Monday, Feb. 16.

More than 202,000 people applied to become Red Planet explorers after Mars One opened the selection process in April 2013. ...

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/100-people-still-in-the-running-for-a-one-way-trip-to-mars/

BTW, not sure if it was mentioned earlier, but this is a one way trip.

...
Mars One wants to send new four-person crews to the Red Planet every two years or so after the first touchdown, which would take place in 2025. At the moment, there are no plans to bring any of these Mars colonists home to Earth.
...

 

[ancona]

I would have to seriously consider the sanity of anyone volunteering for what is an obvious suicide mission. Presuming they survive passage through the Van Allen radiation belt, and further presuming they don't get killed by a small meteorite, how in the hell do they make oxygen on Mars? I have always been told that oxygen is pretty important to humans.

 

[11C1P]

I believe their "theory" to make oxygen is to tap into underground water/ice and and make it from that. Seems that would lead to a lot of other potential problems though. If anyone remembers the fire that killed the astronauts on the ground for apollo-1 one of the reasons the fire was so lethal is that the capsule was pure, or close to pure oxygen. Then also you have the problem that if you breathe pure or very high concentration of oxygen for extended durations, it can cause serious health problems as well. So I don't know if they would be able to mix it with anything else available on Mars to make it more reasonable to breathe for months or years.

Then if they are planning on using the ice/water for drinking (if they even find sufficient amounts) who knows what kind of life forms, bacteria etc. might be in the water, and who knows if it can be effectively filtered out, or boiled and what effect that might have when drank.

I wouldn't have a problem with a suicide mission as long as I thought it was going to do some real good, and that my family would be WELL provided for after the mission was completed, and I could pick which schools are named after me ahead of time.

 

[Penn]

huff post said they selected 100 people. it will be narrowed down to 40 next.