Distance to Mars
Discussion
http://www.distancetomars.com
Nice graphical representation of the distance to Mars - it's a loooong way away!
Nice graphical representation of the distance to Mars - it's a loooong way away!
I think if I could do 3x speed of light, then using the same technology I could put some more coal on and do 30x speed of light...
Then again - 150 days to Mars - early explorers could take years to get to their destinations, with no guarantee of return. How many expeditions have we never heard about because they got sunk in a storm or eaten by natives?
Then again - 150 days to Mars - early explorers could take years to get to their destinations, with no guarantee of return. How many expeditions have we never heard about because they got sunk in a storm or eaten by natives?
The graphic is a bit misleading as it seems to be taking a straight line journey to Mars. In reality, the path from Earth to Mars is not a straight line, but a long, long, long curve outwards from Earth that eventually catches up and rendezvous with Mars. The path is actually a partial orbit around the sun known as a Hohman Transfer orbit.
The distance between Eath and Mars various tremendously depending on where the two planets are in their relative orbits around the sun. Missions to Mars have to be timed to take place when both planets are in a favourable position on the same side as the sun. That will give you the shortest Hohman Orbit and the fastest transit time.
Once you reach Mars, you can't just stay there a few days and then come home. You actually will have to stay there for the best part of a Martian year (almost two Earth years) before both planets return to favourable positions on the same side of the again.
The distance between Eath and Mars various tremendously depending on where the two planets are in their relative orbits around the sun. Missions to Mars have to be timed to take place when both planets are in a favourable position on the same side as the sun. That will give you the shortest Hohman Orbit and the fastest transit time.
Once you reach Mars, you can't just stay there a few days and then come home. You actually will have to stay there for the best part of a Martian year (almost two Earth years) before both planets return to favourable positions on the same side of the again.
How would the crew be selected for a Mars mission? Could take two years to get there, a couple of years on Mars and a couple of years back so very different from a short hop to the moon. Would need a wide mix of skills, redundancy in case of deaths or disabilities, consideration of sexual dynamics (how would that work?), people who could leave everything behind for 6 years. They would need to encompass all team roles (leaders, followers, technicians, pilots, engineers, biologists, mars scientists, doctors, etc, etc. it should probably resemble the crew of the Star Ship Enterprise!
Ayahuasca said:
How would the crew be selected for a Mars mission?
Very, very carefully.In fact, quite a lot of work has already been carried out in this area over the past few years. Apart from the data gleaned from the various earth orbiting space stations over 40 years (Salyut, Skylab, Mir, ISS), ground studies involving long term isolation of groups have been undertaken in a number of countries.
Psychological profiling is going to be crucial to the success of any long duration space mission.
Eric Mc said:
Ayahuasca said:
How would the crew be selected for a Mars mission?
Very, very carefully.In fact, quite a lot of work has already been carried out in this area over the past few years. Apart from the data gleaned from the various earth orbiting space stations over 40 years (Salyut, Skylab, Mir, ISS), ground studies involving long term isolation of groups have been undertaken in a number of countries.
Psychological profiling is going to be crucial to the success of any long duration space mission.
Has anything ever come back to Earth from Mars? I know we've sent plenty of stuff TO Mars, but I don't think any of it has come back, has it?
mrmr96 said:
My understanding was that the first trip was to be a "one way" trip.
Has anything ever come back to Earth from Mars? I know we've sent plenty of stuff TO Mars, but I don't think any of it has come back, has it?
No.Has anything ever come back to Earth from Mars? I know we've sent plenty of stuff TO Mars, but I don't think any of it has come back, has it?
And no space agency will sanction a one way trip to anywhere, if by one way you mean suicidal. One way trips to stay on the other hand...
The One-Way Trip Option (2006); Mars to Stay (2006)
Since returning the astronauts from the surface of Mars is one of the most difficult parts of a Mars mission, the idea of a one-way trip to Mars has been proposed several times. Space activist Bruce Mackenzie, for example, proposed a one-way trip to Mars in a presentation "One Way to Mars - a Permanent Settlement on the First Mission" at the 1998 International Space Development Conference,[58] arguing that since the mission could be done with less difficulty and expense if the astronauts were not required to return to Earth, the first mission to Mars should be a settlement, not a visit. In 2006, former NASA engineer James C. McLane III proposed a scheme to initially colonize Mars via a one way trip by only one human. Papers discussing this concept appeared in The Space Review,[59] Harper’s Magazine,[60] SEARCH Magazine[61] and The New York Times.[62]
Mars to Stay proposes that astronauts sent to Mars for the first time should stay there indefinitely, both to reduce mission cost and to ensure permanent settlement of Mars. Among many notable Mars to Stay advocates, former Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin is a particularly outspoken promoter who has suggested in numerous forums "Forget the Moon, Let’s Head to Mars!"[63] In June 2013, Aldrin wrote an opinion published in The New York Times supporting a manned mission to Mars and views the moon "not as a destination but more a point of departure, one that places humankind on a trajectory to homestead Mars and become a two-planet species."[64]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manned_mission_to_Mar...
There is no "definitive" first trip anywhere near being organised at the moment.
There is lots of talk and lots of schemes (some of them quite hare-brained) but there is no definitive programme in place anywhere at the moment that sets out in detail all of the technical aspects and hardware that will be used on a manned flight to Mars.
Despite all the guff on manned Mars missions floating around at the moment I have seen nothing anywhere that states the following crucial points -
what launcher would be used
what the flight plan would be
what type of transfer orbit would be used
the size of the crew
the mix of the crew
where the crew would be recruited from
the size of the spacecraft
whether artificial gravity would be built into the spacecraft
what type of Mars entry vehicle and lander would be used
how long the stay on the surface would last
what type of activities would be conducted on the surface
what type of habitation would be provided, especially of the surface stay is going to be a long one
how much the project would cost
who would fund it
what follow-up would there be for future missions
And you are correct, even though we have had quite a few successful Mars orbiters, landers and rovers, so far we have never attempted to return any spacecraft from Mars.
There is lots of talk and lots of schemes (some of them quite hare-brained) but there is no definitive programme in place anywhere at the moment that sets out in detail all of the technical aspects and hardware that will be used on a manned flight to Mars.
Despite all the guff on manned Mars missions floating around at the moment I have seen nothing anywhere that states the following crucial points -
what launcher would be used
what the flight plan would be
what type of transfer orbit would be used
the size of the crew
the mix of the crew
where the crew would be recruited from
the size of the spacecraft
whether artificial gravity would be built into the spacecraft
what type of Mars entry vehicle and lander would be used
how long the stay on the surface would last
what type of activities would be conducted on the surface
what type of habitation would be provided, especially of the surface stay is going to be a long one
how much the project would cost
who would fund it
what follow-up would there be for future missions
And you are correct, even though we have had quite a few successful Mars orbiters, landers and rovers, so far we have never attempted to return any spacecraft from Mars.
Fascinating stuff. Looking at Wikipedia provides hours of reading material and makes me realise just how little I know about space. Does anyone have any good links that are sort of "an idiots guide" to space, the surrounding galaxies, stars etc? I'd like to do a bit of reading, but the Wikipedia articles are pretty heavy!
nick s said:
Fascinating stuff. Looking at Wikipedia provides hours of reading material and makes me realise just how little I know about space. Does anyone have any good links that are sort of "an idiots guide" to space, the surrounding galaxies, stars etc? I'd like to do a bit of reading, but the Wikipedia articles are pretty heavy!
This is a lovely big 'coffee table' book: Cosmos For a stupidly cheap price. It's fecking huge.If pictures aren't necessary, there is no better starting point than this: A Brief History of Time
Although anyone who hasn't read this already and is older than 10 should have a word with themselves.
NASA app for your phone is pretty good and updated daily: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/iphone/#.UoYWA43O...
Hundreds of great websites, too many to list, start here as contains lots of links to other sites: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/
Eric Mc said:
Ayahuasca said:
How would the crew be selected for a Mars mission?
Very, very carefully.In reality, some Neil Armstrong-types would be the reality.
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