Martian Scale Design - Little Planet, Big Trucks

saxifrage · 2002-01-11 10:51:38

I wonder if anyone has developed ideas for automobiles, trains, and other vehicles that might be constructed on Mars some day. Vehicles launched from Earth for exploratory purposes must have a small mass, of course, due to launch constraints.

But vehicles built on Mars for domestic use could be MUCH larger. In fact, due to Mars' lower gravity (0.38 g), you could potentially have a truck or rover the size of a house! Might not explorers or colonists on Mars live in their vehicles, taking their life support system and homes with them all over the planet? Imagine gigantic two and three story wheeled vehicles lumbering over the surface, perhaps with the living quarters mounted on a floating suspension so that it stays level even while ascending slopes.

Trains on Mars could also be huge by comparison with those on Earth. Three story trains, as wide as four Earth locomotives, flying down the tracks at hundreds of kph would be quite a site to see.

Josh Cryer · 2002-01-11 15:34:25

Yeah, Kim suggested these live-in rovers in his Mars Trilogy.

Large rovers would be expensive to build, though, and I don't see them being the primary habitats.

I was thinking about the utter effiency of a Martian maglev and realized that a maglev on Mars could potentially be 4 times as wide and twice as high as one on Earth, while being equally efficient! That's truely something to think about.

Phobos · 2002-01-11 19:06:01

Building massive vehicles which amount to houses on wheels would have very good uses for exploration or prospecting purposes but I'm not sure if they'd be practical for colonists who have no great need to frequently roam long
distances from any one place. I imagine the energy and materials that would go into producing and running one would better be spent on building a permanent colony. I like the maglev idea however. They'd probably be a more efficient and safer means of running around Mars than through the use of private transportation, at least in the beginning. Come to think of it, these giant Winnebagos would be perfect for housing the crews that lay down the tracks for the maglevs.

RobS · 2002-01-16 15:45:25

One thing that has occurred to me about surface transportation on Mars: self-driving vehicles could be built more reliably than on earth, especially if a very simple global positioning system could be deployed on Mars. There is already reseach being done on self-driving tractors; the farmer programs in the corners of the field in GPS coordinates and the coordinates of any obstacles (fields sometimes have bedrock outcrops or even trees in them) and the tractor would then plow the field itself. This technology would work well on Mars once you've bulldozed a route through the rocks and programed in the dips and rises (and filled in ravines, of course). On Earth you can't program for fallen trees, tumbleweeds, deer running in front of your vehicle, or other vehicles. But if you have a 5,000 kilometer route connecting, say, Hellas and Isidis and it is bulldozed to some sort of basic standard (3 or 4 meters wide, for instance), and there are no other vehicles on it, you could program a vehicle to drive at 25 miles per hour from one place to the other and the crew could sit inside, playing cards, eating, sleeping, etc., while the vehicle traveled 600 miles a day for them.

Actually, you might not even need global positioning system (gps). You might be able to use the technology the military has developed for air-to-surface missiles for terrain recognition. You'd program in an image of the entire route and the software would navigate by recognizing prominent boulders. You could supplement the terrain recognition with an occasional road sign bearing a bar code for the rover's computers to recognize.

Rather than Maglev trains, the first "trains" might be a nuclear powered truck towing four or five trailers behind it automatically, carrying people and cargo from place to place.

umrover · 2002-09-25 18:19:14

Due to the low gravity and the very very low friction, you wouldn't want to build anything to heavy or you wouldn't be able to stop or turn.

RobS · 2002-09-26 00:47:25

Yes, you may need to use cleated tires, rather like snow tires in winter on Earth.

Driving on Phobos; now that would be a challenge! The gravity is something like 6/10,000 of Earth.

-- RobS

Phobos · 2002-09-26 18:05:51

Yes, you may need to use cleated tires, rather like snow tires in winter on Earth.
Driving on Phobos; now that would be a challenge! The gravity is something like 6/10,000 of Earth.

Ouch! I hope when you go driving all over Phobos you don't do it with cleated tires. Anyhow, it could be scary driving on Phobos. One big bump and Mars might find itself with a new moonlet.

Austin Stanley · 2002-10-13 04:30:16

Due to the low gravity and the very very low friction, you wouldn't want to build anything to heavy or you wouldn't be able to stop or turn.

Well you could if you built it pretty wide, and you went pretty slow, especialy when you turn.

I wonder how well cleted tires would work on Martian soil though...

Drag races on mars, could be very, very fun.

dicktice · 2002-11-26 14:16:01

Reminds me of that big old carrier that roamed the desert in the first Star Wars film (Episode IV).

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#1 2002-01-11 10:51:38

Re: Martian Scale Design - Little Planet, Big Trucks

#2 2002-01-11 15:34:25

Re: Martian Scale Design - Little Planet, Big Trucks

#3 2002-01-11 19:06:01

Re: Martian Scale Design - Little Planet, Big Trucks

#4 2002-01-16 15:45:25

Re: Martian Scale Design - Little Planet, Big Trucks

#5 2002-09-25 18:19:14

Re: Martian Scale Design - Little Planet, Big Trucks

#6 2002-09-26 00:47:25

Re: Martian Scale Design - Little Planet, Big Trucks

#7 2002-09-26 18:05:51

Re: Martian Scale Design - Little Planet, Big Trucks

#8 2002-10-13 04:30:16

Re: Martian Scale Design - Little Planet, Big Trucks

#9 2002-11-26 14:16:01

Re: Martian Scale Design - Little Planet, Big Trucks

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