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#101 Re: Human missions » We Could Have Gone To Mars With Apollo! » 2005-05-18 18:33:22
The manned mission they talked about in voyage, although doable with Apollo era hardware, I mean, it was basically sky lab+upperstage+MEM, but it seems strange to me to go on a two year mission with 30 days of surface time.
I do think we could have been beter off taking, gasp I hate to call it this, the Russian approach and stuck with the Saturn V and evolved it. Slowly added F1a engines, SRBs gotten it up to 200 tonnes to orbit, added a nerva upperstage. Using Skylabs as a standard module we could have thrown up big space stations in both lunar and Earth orbit and been on mars by now. Assumming funding had remained basically flat after Apollo and we hadn't had this massive shuttle/space station detour...
Playing the what could have been game angers me because I am increasing resigned to the fact that we are never going to get the space program going again in any significant way and it's the greatest tragedy of the 21st century.
#102 Re: Human missions » Post central for information on CEV IV - Before thread #3 melts down » 2005-05-06 22:08:31
I don't understand the logic of making the CEV reusable. Pressure vessel + avionics + heatsheild = CEV. None of these things should be very expensive, making a system robust enough to be reusable to any significant extent will add more cost and complexity to the system then it is worth. It will be the shuttle all over again.
I think the key to making the CEV work as a system is to make the most capable, cheapest generic earth rentry vehicle as possible for rentry after lunar or martian mission as well as some sort of common landing bus for the moon and Mars. With those two things as building blocks throw in a 150 tonne to LEO class heavy lifter and inflatibles for both inspace and surface use.
I have hope that with the growing threat from China and the fledgling alt space start ups we might actually end up with a usefull system. We just really need to bail on the ISS.
#103 Re: Martian Politics and Economy » Who should first go to mars - Who should first go to mars. » 2005-04-30 10:41:00
I actually think using pilots for human missions to mars would be a case of institutional habit. Flying in space has very little to nothing in common with driving a fighter in atmosphere. I think aerobraking around mars could be largley automated and as with decent and landing. Especially if a rover on the ERV (assuming a Mars Direct style mission) has mapped the site ahead of time and placed a landing beacon for the ship to home in on.
#104 Re: Human missions » Revisiting Project Orion - Article. » 2005-03-27 12:16:02
I know that the military has recently invested alot of money into developing 'clean' fusion weapons that don't use fission primaries, so advent of fall-out free nuclear weapons that you fear will likley happen in any event (I have a sneaking suspision(sp?) that such weapons wouldn't fall under any current treaty thus getting around no new nukes)
Although I think Orion could have worked, if we were going to build it at all we should have done it in the 60s. Now if we are going to invest some serious money in revolutionizing acess to space ACMF or GCNRs are the way to go, you get alot of benefits from not having to deal with pulsing thrust.
Actually, I'd settle for just plain jane nuclear thermal rockets for ground launch. Hydrogen doesn't ionize so the only thing you'd have to worry about for launch saftey is internal reactor ablation which I am could be solved with through engineering.
....you'd just have to have green peace offed to do it, which I am suprisingly comfortable with 
#105 Re: Human missions » Japan Eyes Future Manned Moon Base, Space Shuttle » 2005-03-27 02:00:21
I would be amazed and thrilled if the Japanese put together a manned space program, especially if they did it before the ESA, but as it stands I'm not holding my breath on either faction producing much of anything.
At the same time, I'm not sure the CEV is going to fly anywhere near when it's supposed to and the Shuttle is just not going to be maintainable all that much longer....
I think our only hope is with heavy lift or the private sector pulling something out of its hat.
#106 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » Ancient Nuclear Reactors » 2005-02-22 19:26:23
I always understood that since uranium is heavy then it would accumulate with other heavy elements in rocky planets. Do we know how much uranium the other inner planets have, by the way?
Specifically Mars, if we could fine Uranium in extracatable quantities that would be a huge help to the long term viability of settlements, as well as a possible export as building new uranium enrichment facilities and breeder reactors is politically impossible here.
#107 Re: Not So Free Chat » You're a 1st Marsian Settler » 2005-02-03 00:20:55
</out of character>
....best thread ever....
#108 Re: Human missions » Finally, a sensible solution to the Hubble debate - ... that we can all agree on...maybe. » 2005-02-03 00:19:21
The entire Hubble debate is strictly PR and emotion. There are now ground based telescopes with more under construction that surpass hubbles resolution. Adaptive optics, as GCNR stated will fruther reduce the Hubbles relevence.
I'm glad they killed the service mission, the money is beter spent on the James Webb space telescope that will be replacing the Hubble.
#109 Re: Human missions » Is Kistler Dead? » 2005-02-02 20:04:07
It seems like the age of shooting for a RLV are over, as NASA is once again focusing on(and rightly so) expendables, and the only AltSpace start up that has gotten any traction is with expendables (or nearly so). Space X seems like it could become a player at least and Bigelow while not in the launch bussiness seems like it could survive since it has funding.
On the other hand I'm not sure where Rutan and company are headed with their air launched system or if that's even what they will stick to as he pushes on for higher then sub orbit.
#110 Re: Human missions » Is Kistler Dead? » 2005-02-02 13:55:57
I was just reading on spacedaily.com that the founders of Kistler Aerospace are now starting another venture called Lunar Transportation Systems. ???
I'm a little bit behind on the goings on in the alt space community but does this mean that the Kistlers RLV is officially dead? I knew they had gone bankrupt but last I heard they were trying to restructure and press forward.
#111 Re: Not So Free Chat » McCarthyism - ...will it rise again? » 2005-02-02 11:39:15
Not to nit-pick but I hate the word McCarthyism, since the entire McCarthy era was revisionist history run rampant.
The Hollywood hearings were run by HUAC, the HOUSE unAmerican Activities Commision...McCarthy was a senator and never even attended one.
The people who McCarthy accussed of being Communists and traitors have now been proven to have been so by declassified documents on both sides of the Iron curtain, Alger Hiss, the Julius and Ethel Rosenburg, and many other members of the state department. I'm not going to get on a Rant here but McCarthy should be considered a hero of the cold war, not the personification of a witch hunt.
On to the point of your question, I am very concerned about high schoolers not caring about first (or second for that matter) amendment rights, I don't think that the bill of rights is nearly emphasised enough in schools.
#112 Re: Not So Free Chat » A380 airbus - monster of the skies » 2005-01-21 17:55:57
Uh, the Sonic Cruiser wasn't a super-sonic airliner.
The demise of the Concord shouldn't be taken as the demise of super-sonic civil aviation, it was an idea that was before its time and could not be executed both technologically and economically, which is clearly illustrated by the ticket price. A super-sonic airliner that can do both is possible today with out superior aerospace technology instead of 70's brute-force turbojets, the big question is the economics.
I know the sonic cruiser was sub sonic, it's target cruise was .98 mach if memory serves, but it provides a good starting platform. Even the illistrations boeing released about it's 'envisioned' no-boom sst were obviously revamped from their sonic cruiser work.
#113 Re: Not So Free Chat » A380 airbus - monster of the skies » 2005-01-21 17:35:13
Super-sonic civil transports are probobly not going to happen, the decreased travel time isn't worth it for enough passengers to make up for the development costs.
That really depends on how much it costs to develop and how many of them end up being sold. If you can sell enough then the development costs are not such a large burden.
It is something of a risk though. The only times it has been tried before it has failed economically, and while the conditions are better now then they were before the question is whether the economics have improve enough to make it successful.
In any case, it has a much better chance then the hypersonic rocketplane transports that alt-space people hope will lead to a SSTO.
I'd actually disagree with you on that one, with recent developments with non-boom areodynamics and highly efficent high trrust engines I'd wouldn't be suprised to see Boeing revive a modified version of it's previous next generation airliner, the sonic cruiser resurected, modified for no-boom aerodynamics and with different engines since they already have alot of ground work done on that and alot of tooling made.
#114 Re: Not So Free Chat » A380 airbus - monster of the skies » 2005-01-21 16:48:32
It's very impressive, but it's in my opinion it's an airliner designed for an era that's coming to a close, the future is smaller airplanes allowing people to travel point to point? Just look at the insane sucess of the CRJ and ERJ from Bombardier and Embarer(sp?)
EADs and the EU is desperate to crush Boeing as it's a symbol of American technology. They are doing a pretty good job of buying market share, but that's all they are doing since they can sell airplanes at a loss with no concern where as Boeing has to turn a profit.
I agree with Cobra though, I think the 787 is a beter bet for the future, although I think the A380 will find a niche in the cargo market, although I doubt Air Bus will break in on it.
#115 Re: Not So Free Chat » Sci-Fi KSR Mini-series » 2005-01-15 10:41:48
I was watching Battlestar Galactica and they ran a SciFi Channel promo for all their upcoming movies/miniseries and Red Mars was in the list, so it's coming eventually.
Really? I didn't catch that, but I was watching BSG.
I was really impressed by the four hour mini-series (although I hesitate to call it that a mini-series is like 8 hours usually) and the show has been of an amazingly high caliber. I'm just ticked that i've already seen the first 11 episodes because they were shown early in the UK and thus were avalible to download, me shooting myself in the foot I guess, lol.
What'd you think of BSG?
Did they give a ETA for Red Mars?b
#116 Re: Not So Free Chat » Sci-Fi KSR Mini-series » 2005-01-14 10:36:01
Has anyone heard anything recently on the <]
#117 Re: Human missions » A Book I Would Like To See - Could Be Interesting » 2004-12-14 18:26:39
I would enjoy seeing a book, heavily illustrated that detailed as many manned Mars mission plans and architectures over the years. Including early NASA plans and various Soviet and Russian concepts over the years.
I think such a book would be extremely interesting.
Starting doing some research, start writing, find a publisher. :-D
#118 Re: Not So Free Chat » O'Keefe Resigns :: Zubrin Should Apply for the Job - Wanted: New NASA Chief » 2004-12-14 18:18:29
If we scale back ISS, no need to to not fly a Hubble service mission. Hubble is a public relations icon. Perhaps its not logical, but to scrap Hubble in favor of VSE will provide the VSE with negative PR capital.
How we scale back ISS will be interesting to watch as well.
How about offering to sell the ISS at a bargin basement price to Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic Real Estate!
#119 Re: Human missions » - - CEV RFP - One comment » 2004-12-14 18:08:36
I think using the EELV is a big mistake, we will never get to mars 20tonnes at a time.
#120 Re: Not So Free Chat » O'Keefe Resigns :: Zubrin Should Apply for the Job - Wanted: New NASA Chief » 2004-12-12 15:13:02
Saving the Hubble would be a massive waste of money, people just don't get that there are ground based telescopes that have higher resolutions then the hubble now. With the James Webb Telescope going up in the near future who cares if we deorbit the hubble.
#121 Re: Human missions » What Kind of Manned Program Should We Push For? - A Time to choose » 2004-12-05 22:57:36
It seems to me our quickest option for developing a HLV is a revived updated Saturn V with some updated version of the F-1 with cryogenic propellents or some other very high thrust modern engine, I don't know about scalability though. Along with 4 or 6 five segement SRBs and you've got a recipe for a Mars booster.
#122 Re: Human missions » International Cooperation-Not Worth The Effort? - Don't Think it is » 2004-12-05 15:39:43
Completely agree. Internationalizing the program would be a mistake of epic proportions.
By Americans, For Americans. (Or by Euros for Euros, or by Chinese for chinese for a worst case scenario)
#123 Re: Human missions » "Human Factors"-Not Really A Factor? - Overrated I Think. » 2004-12-05 14:55:30
I have some friends that are squids that do three month tours on Ohio Class missile boats (the USS Nebraska to be specific) one of them has actually been on a six month cruise back during the cold war when there was a problem with the boat that was going to relive them (they just sent out a tender to restock them with food and various other items). (the USS Nebraska to be specific) Even the officers quarters are amazingly tight and they have never really had a problem, you adapt and learn to live with it. On a sub there is no TV feed, no video mail, just what ever books, computer games, movies, ect you bring down with you.
Having your own room and communications would make a world of difference. I think if submariners can survive and be realitivly happy in that environment then I don't see at all how human factors would be much of an issue on the road to Mars.
Besides crew size there really are alot of parralels between nuclear subs and a Mars flight.
#124 Re: Civilization and Culture » Wacky contests on Mars » 2004-12-03 17:01:21
I think making beer and other liquors on mars will be quite the hobby. Mars, the planet of 300 microbreweries, lol.
#125 Re: Not So Free Chat » The Dollar$ - just how low can it go » 2004-12-01 18:30:31
As far as China goes there are some serious questions outstanding about the sustainability of their growth.
Also whenever there is an increase in the American manufactering sector that hurts the PRCs economy, which is still almost entirely based around exports. China and Japan are likley to be the two countries hurt the most by a weaker dollar.