New Mars Forums

Well congratulation to SpaceShipOne and to Its owners for having achieved the goal. But to all thoses that have partial or nearly complete vehicles keep going.

We all know the direction that SpaceShipOne and the free enterprise industry has in store with the announcement of virgin getting into the space flight game.

Also there is the announcement of the http://www.xpcup.com/ to continue on the excitement of the xprize in the coming year.

In addition we have the Bigelow LEO prize still of which they are ironing out the prize amount and looking for more funds to go with his pridged amount of 25 million.

edit:
http://www.spacedaily.com/

Here is also a thought for the exploration after sending robotic missions.

How about sending a nuclear submarine and a dome shaped floating habitat once man could go.

On a side note I started a thread on the Earths ocean why have we not colonized them.

I think the two water worlds have much in common in the way that we must go about exploration of each.

Compressed air is used to run a lot of short term use items in many auto repair shops. So why not intergrate it into normal mission use as well a rover sounds very feasable since it has a lot of stop and go motion allowing for it to regenerate the compression needed for using it to propel the vehicle.

I think you hit it with regards to colonizing other worlds. Living in a bubble not able to go out side of it. Makes wanting to do it not so atractive for many. So those that are not die hard fans of space say why bother investing all that money for it, if it has no practical purpose other than to do science.

The china of imature space seems to be changing everyday, Nasa needs to get closer if it should want to make better use of partners in space exploration.

Not so innocents abroad: China returns to the International Astronautical Congress
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/237/1

New Horizons Set To Launch With Minimum Amount of Plutonium

The spacecraft will use the plutonium in a radioisotope thermal generator (RTG), a long-lived nuclear battery. RTGs transform heat from decaying plutonium pellets into electricity to power science instruments, computers and other flight systems.

http://space.com/spacenews/businessmonday_041004.html

NASA is still targeting a January 2006 launch of the New Horizons Pluto probe after the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) confirmed it can deliver most of the nuclear fuel the spacecraft will need for its 10-year mission.

In September, Senate appropriators, noting that the paucity of plutonium has jeopardized the Kuiper Belt tour, added $4 million to the NASA budget bill last month to pay for a study of the feasibility and likely cost of launching a so-called New Horizons 2 mission relatively soon.

The unofficial news sources have it delayed until May. Thanks for not hurricane season 2004 but NASA Florida it may not be over just yet. when your winds still blow even though the months of November some years.

Hurricane Damage Delays Shuttle's Return To Flight Until May
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/shuttle-04zi.html

I was reading a Community Commentary titled:
Now it is time for us to discover our planet’s oceans
http://www.fosters.com/October_2004/10. … 02_04b.asp

Quote:
The United States has made breathtaking progress in space science and exploration. We landed on the moon and can now claim a much greater understanding of our solar system. We have even detected the presence of water on Mars. Its time we took on the last unexplored frontier: the oceans. Oceans cover some 70 percent of this planet yet vast expanses - almost 90 percent - remain unknown.

end quote:

This made me think about our many threads on teraforming, using celestial bodies from asteriods to comets, moons and much more.
We would mostly like to make bases on some if not all of the above meantioned. We know of some of the hardships and the overall costs to do a little explorations in the name of science. We also have talked about infrastucture needded to pull it off.
Here we have the last explored frontier on Earth and we have barely scratched its surface in the name of science and of exploration.
Nasa has used it for some simulations and for training for missions in space.
Learning how to construct a base in the oceans would be vary simular to having no atmospher or to even one that is toxic to breath. Why not make more use of it also as an Earth bond means to make this planet the next stepping stone to space as well.
We have much more to learn before we can go so lets make the most of what we have.

The bush kerry view on science.
http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/000245.html#more

While not quite on topic it is however is about the history as told by another of those Nasa insiders.

Exploration and History Come Together on NASA Web Portal
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/se … story.html

Essay: The Importance of Exploration
This is the first in a series of essays on exploration by NASA's Chief Historian, Steven J. Dick.
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-100104a.html

No problem it is always good to be reminded anyway
but at the time I was looking at what modules were left to be placed into orbit and of any possible cancellations due to shuttle timeline to retirement. In additions to which ones might be off loaded to alternative launch vehicles.

What I hope most though for is that all teams that are building rockets to compete in this contest do not stop just because the prize is won but continue on with their designs and push on for the orbital prise that is to come.