New Mars Forums

A nuclear reactor on Mars would provide the needed power for a whole colony of scientist but last I knew they where designed around heat exchange to water and by turning of turbines to created the electricity.

Since Mars water would be scarce at first and need much processing to get from the in-situ materials this would mean shipping it from earth. I have learned that it should not be liquid Hydrogen and Liquid Oxygen is serperate tanks. Cooling of each to stop evaporation not the mention due to the long journey metal fatigue of the tank. Can the water be shipped in its liquid form or would this require heating of the tank?

There would be many problems with construction of a reactor on the surface of Mars such as the containment shell no concrete, steel reenforcement rods and the list goes on.

If you read the link from the top of the page you will see just that.

snipet of planned repair using dexter:

NASA would launch a 12,000- to 15,000-pound spacecraft consisting of a propulsion module and an ejection module. The ejection module would contain bays for two new Hubble instruments as well as the two-armed android and a smaller version of a shuttle robot arm.

The shuttle-like arm would maneuver the two-armed robot -- a copy of which is being developed by the Canadian Space Agency for the International Space Station -- to work sites on the four-story observatory.

Also known as the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or SPDM, the robot then would remove old Hubble instruments and stow them in ejection module bays.

The two new instruments -- the Wide-Field Camera-3 and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph -- then would be installed.

Fuel cell Bus should have been written Fuel Cell Powered Buses. In the same token fuel cell research is on the edge with using other gases besides the hydrogen and oxygen.

Sending one tank of each one at a time would be safe enough to do even full. As to shipping an empty set of tanks would it not be better to ship smelting equipment and make the tanks from the Iron rich Martian soil instead.

As for the rechargeable batteries send multiple battery packs to be charged by solar during the day followed by a completing charge as needed by the fuel cells or some other means to charge to capacity before use the following day.

The Mars society research site does have a vehicle that they are simulating such activity with. They may have some insight into some of the details still yet to be fully worked out.

You should be congradulated for the amount of work to which you have done, My hat is off to you.

Good luck getting a prototype built.

I remember seeing in the last say 3 months articles from either a japanese firm or that of a university with a more human like robot. That could be used if a stationary platform were made.
There was talk of using such a robot to do the more difficult replacement items that they felt a robotic arm could not do.

Robonaut human looking Robot astronaut:

Who should explore space, man or machine?
http://www.cnn.com/2003....ex.html

Robots come to aid of human exploration
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/04/1 … index.html

I remember seeing in the last say 3 months articles from either a japanese firm or that of a university with a more human like robot. That could be used if a stationary platform were made.
There was talk of using such a robot to do the more difficult replacement items that they felt a robotic arm could not do.
It was shortly after the Human versus robot should explore space article that I saw possibly on cnn.

Both yours and the other topic post are of Mars crew planet(moon) surface transportation and of combined lab resource availablity mix for mode of use, crew count and day excursion distance in mind. The easy of use and of capability of each.
Both can be presented together much like Earth current system. Each has there blurred lines of use or flexibility of use.

The Space Commercial Human Ascent Serving Expeditions Act

AKA the Space CHASE Act

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=13632

Snipet:
"The Congress finds that--
(1) the goal of opening space to the American people and their private commercial, scientific, and cultural enterprises should guide Federal space investments, policies, and regulations;

(2) private industry has begun to develop commercial launch vehicles capable of carrying human beings into space, and greater private investment in these efforts will stimulate the Nation's commercial space transportation industry as a whole;

(3) space transportation is inherently risky;

(4) a critical area of responsibility for the Office of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation is to regulate the emerging commercial human space flight industry; and

(5) the public interest is served by creating a clear legal and regulatory regime for commercial human space flight.

end snipet:

We are on the verge of allowing for the first time not only governments but the private industry and the people who have the desire to gain access into space. Who knows were we will be in a few years or even a decade or two but the real journey will take a small step forward if it is ever signed into Law in the right direction. To allow more people to become more involved in all facets of the exploration vision.

FYI for those that have not found it yet.

Android top pick to aid Hubble; Dubbed "Dextre," the Canadian robot would blast off on an Atlas 5 or Delta 4 rocket in late 2007 and then outfit the $3 billion observatory with fresh batteries and gyroscopes as well as two new $100 million science instruments.

http://www.flatoday.com/news....FIX.htm

Lots of details in the article.
Happy reading all.

comstar03

I like the thoughts in Example 2 : LEO and Lunar Development

I do feel that we should be doing more than we are with an orbiting platform in the ISS.
Learning how to do all sort of construction techniques in less gravity or in none is important to any base survival on the moon or on Mars.
We must learn how to do things the old fashion way anew in order to keep all the high tech stuff working longer.

Here is another though due to the most recent device failure.
Well depending on If it is feasable to do, Bring up Hubble 2 and a deorbit booster stage in a shuttle and be done with the whole issue of repair. Send Hubble to it's demise or leave it for spare parts once the bosster is attached.

The reason for shuttles not being used is lack of Safe Haven. A myth that only will last for the duration of the supplies available for the crew to use. Now if the safe Haven has a spare return capsule then we have something to work from.

Yes, give the shuttle crew the needed time to repair if possible but always give second and third options for getting back safely.

On any rescue mission to save the crew and or a badly damaged shuttle that the current crew could not. The rescue team needs to have someone from Macco to teach them how to do hole repair.

A use cutting tools to remove tiles from around damaged area, lay in and weld new sheet metal to cover hole, cut tile peices to shape, apply adhesive, place tile into location, grind and smoothen tile to flush finish for under body repairs.

Yes, the RCC leading edge panels would be harder since each panel is not assimetrical from right wing location to left at the same point on the wing. Maybe half RCC panels or some other wrap over technique can be applied.

The whole problem of severe damage to the TPS system is not a small hole to be filled with a sealing patch but is one of space required for replacement pieces of tiles and of tools.

Here is a great image of the tracks made by the rovers on Mars.
I do love every bid of those awsome Rovers, more...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin....pe=news

More news release stuff;
NASA's Solar Sail Propulsion Team and industry partners have successfully deployed two 10-meter solar sails in a vacuum environment — a critical milestone in development of the unique propulsion technology that could enable future deep space missions. Solar sail propulsion uses the Sun's energy to travel through space.
http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news/news/rele … 4-208.html