New Mars Forums

Good Point, but would not the plasma rocket be a much faster? As far as processing the water from Mars: Better mapping and such will let us land very near the best water source. Than useing a Pathfinder type rover we could go from place to place processing the water and pipeing it back to the main lander. When we land we will have a network of water pipes.

So much has been made over different propulsion systems. I think that we should all work on one plan. If we start with the time we would like to take each way, such as 90 days, than go from there. figure 36 million miles to mars you need to go like 16,000 mph. So now we make a proplusion system to match. With Zubrins plan we can build a huge rocket to go home with.

Although nucluar fussion would be faster than conventional rockets it would still take a least four to six months. I have done some advanced study on the safety asspect. I have found that most if not all nucluar power accidents (ex.Three Mile Island, Chernobyl) were caused by human error. So for long term power output nucluar energy MAY be the best. But if nucluar power is chosen I feel that the astronouts must be trained to the enth degree. What do you think?

Some websites that you may enjoy

http://std.msfc.nasa.gov/sciresearch/adv_plas_prop.html

http://www.space.com/busines....16.html

I see many people discussing the fact that it takes so long to get to Mars. With the plasma rockets which nasa is developing the time it takes to reach mars could be cut down considerable.
                   

High exhaust velocity can be achieved by the use of a plasma, where the atoms of the gas have been stripped of some of their electrons, making it a soup of charged particles. The temperature of a plasma starts at about 11,000° C. But present day laboratory plasmas can be a thousand times hotter. Particles in such plasmas move at velocities of 300,000 m/sec. These temperatures are comparable to those in the interior of our Sun. No known material could survive direct contact with such a plasma. Fortunately, a plasma responds well to the presence of electric and magnetic fields. A magnetic channel can be constructed to both heat and guide a plasma, without ever touching material walls. Magnetized plasmas are envisioned to, some day generate abundant energy on Earth, by controlled thermonuclear fusion. Their complex physics is the subject of intense study.