New Mars Forums

Aren't delta V and travel time functions of each other?

In other words, you can go anytime, it just might take a long long time to get there? My understanding is that package goods can be launched towards Mars whenever (every two weeks for example).

Arrival times at Mars will vary, perhaps greatly and deceleration can be a problem meaning multiple aerobrake passes.

I thought the 26 month windows were for Hohmann trajectories with human crews. The free return Mars to Earth trajectory opening in 2014 supposedly takes years without needing ANY fuel.

Edited By BWhite on 1120687882

Good reasons to hope t/Space manages to actually fly, soon.

t/Space may very well be why Griffin wants the stick to have both cargo-only and crew variants.

As I recall, the problem with NASA paying for t/Space is that they want to retain their intellectual property rights rather than transfer those rights to NASA in exchange for development funding. That suggests t/Space may very well have alternate funding available which would allow NASA to use the stick CEV only for genuine exploration missions and not as an ISS taxi, buying rides to ISS on a per seat basis, like airline tickets.

Well, the owner did fill out all the mortgage paperwork and assumes the risk of a deadbeat tenant (not your brother, of course!) and the risk that the home will de-value rather than appreciate in value, a risk we often forget about in these days of rapid price escalation.

House prices do go down from time to time. Rarely but they do sometimes go down.

Anyway, the Proudhon reference was just joshin' ya' - - Josh.

:;):

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That $200 per month you mention between the rent and the mortgage payemnt. How many months of vacancy are needed before that spread evaporates?

Assume $600 rent and a $500 payment. One month of vacancy cancels out 5 months of getting $600 rather than $500.

Owner occupied solves that problem because you need to pay rent one way or another. If you are careful, buying a house is a terrific investment, but NOT without risk and aggravation.

Edited By BWhite on 1120675497

Property is theft.  Proudhon.

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If you get pre-approved with a mortgage lender, you should be able to close an existing house about 60 - 90 days after you select one. Maybe faster.

There will be massive amounts of paperwork. I mean massive! 

First you will sign a form, lets call that Form A. Then you will sign a ceritification that you in fact did sign form A freely and voluntarily. Then you will sign another form saying that you are indeed the true and actual Josh Cryer and not your first cousin having the same name.

Then they will ask for your driver's license to make sure you are not a terrorist. I kid you not. Its part of the ongoing "War on Terror" to make every homebuyer submit two forms of ID at the closing.

Just saw this comment on space.com concerning SRB safety:

Slaps self on forehead. . .  Well do'h! 

So tell me again WHY are solids inherently unsafe?

Especially if we add small explosive charges to blow open the sides to accomplish thrust termination in the event of abort (as GCNRevenger mentioned)?

Check out my new new sig. Wonkette is so very snarky. I think I love her. 

A political observation:

Mike Griffin was co-leader on the Planetary Society report issued in the summer of 2004. He appears to be following that blueprint rather closely. Scott Horowitz (now employed by Thiokol) presented the stick concept at the Chicago Mars Society convention after Thiokol's Kahn made a Spring 2004 presentation to Congress

Griffin is working from a long and well prepared script.

Is it a good plan? I believe so. clark and I and others have their opinions and we argue, incessantly. But remember this:

Griffin's plan was in the public domain long before he was ever nominated or confirmed as NASA administrator. His previous testimony to Congress has been consistent with his views. Remember his statement that we can certainly "do the Moon without HLLV but it would be silly"?

Okay, both the Administration and the Senate had full access to this public record before Griffin was confirmed and now that he is implementing this plan, NO ONE (at least within the higher reaches of the Beltway) is complaining.

This means either

(a) the Administration failed to properly research Griffin's record;

or

(b) they tacitly condone his new direction.

Any argument with the above observations?

Having the stick ready by 2010 is mission critical to getting the Senators to allow orbiter to be grounded. As has been mentioned many times, GWB will be gone before then.

Ore of the terrific things about Michael Griffin (IMHO) as NASA administrator is that he seems to have many friends on both sides of the aisle in the Senate. In an ideal world (IMHO) Congress will give Griffin $16 - $18 billion per year and then leave him the hell alone.

Griffin's political tests will come in keeping Hutchinson, Mikulski and Nelson happy, for example. If he can do that then the White House (whether GOP or Democrat) can only lose by interfering. SRB CEV is obviously a way to squeeze carrier rocket development into the current STS/ISS budget and culling the shuttle army without openly firing everyone is another.

Concerning the ISS, only the President has sufficient political firepower to tell our international partners to go pound sand. While I wish he would do exactly that, I do not predict that will happen.

Griffin appears to see that ISS cancellation is above his pay grade and therefore he needs to be circumspect about ISS-bashing.

In the meantime, we at newmars can pick up that slack.

Locked, continue on at Shuttle Derived II

Clinton had a nice chat http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0465028 … -page]with Orrin Hatch about his Supreme Court nomination decision.

Oh yeah, I forgot. Rove said there was no reason for Republicans to talk to Democrats, except to condemn or demand obedience.

Actually I hope he nominates his Attorney General.

Cobra, more troops now is too late.

More troops then to prevent looting and to guard Saddam's arsenal  would have been useful. All those IEDs are being made with explosives we could have guarded in the weeks after regime change.

We also need to define "victory conditions" in a clear and succinct manner.