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SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,428

Plans for mobile base - on the mars...

Plot0008 Support of Mobile Exploration Train for My Hacienda On Mars business building

The thought of being nomadic appeals to many and that includes even those on Earth so why not on Mars as well.

The IceSAT-2 research team drove almost 500 miles along the 88th parallel to record the exact elevation of the polar-plateau ice sheet in this area.

Sure not a mars image but that we know for maybe in the polar area of mars.

So maybe a future state for a cold dome construction that simulates the earths life biome.

Mars might look something like this is a snow dome.

But then again a dream of some would be a little bit of water

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,428

Re: Plans for mobile base - on the mars...

Sure a future dream that will start with

maybe a shiny BFR or inflateables

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,428

Re: Plans for mobile base - on the mars...

We have talked about RV'ing around mars, using nuke power vehicles, using inflateable habitats and even the tuna can landers but we only seem to have focused on getting from a base to another by these other methods and not really moving the base with you
Of course that base will be a minimal but functional for survival type.

kbd512

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Registered: 2015-01-02

Posts: 7,811

Re: Plans for mobile base - on the mars...

SpaceNut,

I'm all in favor of this mobile base idea.  This concept art from NASA without the ascent vehicle attached and with large wheels or tracks is pretty much what I had in mind.

Mars Base Artist Conception by John J. Olson

Here's a larger version of the same artwork to see more detail.

Mars Base by John J. Olson (NASA 1992)

After landing, the descent engine would be removed and saved as spares for the ascent vehicle.  The fuel tanks might be kept to store and/transport CH4 from the ISPP plant to the ascent vehicle when it's time to return to Earth.  If the suspension system is not solid rod, then the batteries for the vehicle would be stored in the suspension / landing gear tubing.

The new woven materials, such as CNT's (structural integrity and puncture resistance) and BNNT's (GCR shielding) would form the basis of the inflatable's structure and composites for use in the landing gear, in lieu of heavier and weaker carbon and spectra fibers.  For mobility in steep terrain, both payload leveling and abrasion resistant technora or spectra ropes would provide anchor points and a small deployable robot or CANADARM variant with an electric impact hammer would drive and remove pitons into the terrain and use a series of pulleys and winches to assist with the traversal.  Within reason, it should be able to go most places on Mars.

louis

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From: UK

Registered: 2008-03-24

Posts: 7,208

Re: Plans for mobile base - on the mars...

I think once you have your permanent base then you can use large exploration Rovers to conduct long range missions.

You could build up staging posts with PV power stations/batteries or alternatively the rovers could operate on methane engines. Either way, I think you would need to have faster and smaller supply vehicles that would service and set up these staging posts which would also have food and water available. 

The exploration rover might  have a crew of 6, be about 20 feet in length with a double air lock chamber/shower facility for EVAs. It might carry a smaller two person electric vehicle with pressurised cabin for exploration of difficult terrain. It would probably need to carry drones and small electric robot vehicles to survey the way ahead where ground conditions were hazardous.

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Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,428

Re: Plans for mobile base - on the mars...

In some of the discusions with nuclear power the unit is towed behind or moved in much the manner of the image in the first post as the end of the train of platforms.

The egine of the train only needs the minimal crew with in it while all the others ride in what would be the habitat car, which would be followed with the dining car, followed by the kitchen food storage car, followed by the complete body grooming car, followed by the inistu processing tanks plus the equipment to do what we want with the final car being the power system. We would have like a flex hose connecting tunnel to each cars platform.

Its not until we begin to specify how far we would move, duration away from a real base that each cars platform size and mass limitations for the engine that will be pulling it all would become apparent.

elderflower

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Registered: 2016-06-19

Posts: 1,262

Re: Plans for mobile base - on the mars...

The BAS have moved Halley Bay station a couple of times due to Ice cracking. Of course snow and ice  make for relatively easy movement of large objects but I'm sure we can learn from this.

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,428

Re: Plans for mobile base - on the mars...

We will have lots of vehicles and other parts to make use of in the designed purpose of use for being nomadic.

I can see where an extra couple of the BEAM inflateables would come in handy as these are reduced in mass and can be stowed for making the hike across mars.

Mars Cart

Light weight rover for Mars

Steam powered rovers

Running on Compressed Air?

Bikes on Mars? - Don't laugh!

Land propulsion - Tracks, or tires?

Light weight nuclear reactor, updating Mars Direct

Nukemobiles on Mars

We might even be using:
Dirigibles on Mars - A practical means of transport?

Airplanes on Mars

Then again supply the materials and we could be a batch of do it yourselfers
A Basic Rover for the Base - to be built on Mars

Bring the comforts of home with you in
Combining the Rover and Hab - Go RV'ing!

Then again we travel here on earth by:
Trains on Mars - Could a rail system provide martian need

We have more topics in the planetary that could be include in creating the mobility that we might just want:
Martian Transportation Infrastructure
air breathing engine
Best propulsion for a long range rover
Nasa Inflateable Structures
Land Crew in large pressurized Rover
The Water Tent - radiation protection
Nuclear Transportation?
Simplest Mars Vehicles - Paris-Dakar rally + 02 onboard tanks
Nuclear Cars for Mars - Powering martian vehicles
Flying "back-packs" - Another way of getting around on Mars?

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,428

Re: Plans for mobile base - on the mars...

One of the things about mobility is thinking small compact but not going without.

Another way to get interesting concepts are from Tiny Homes as you will not want to be without the comforts of home even on mars.

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,428

Re: Plans for mobile base - on the mars...

A NASA Architect Designed a Camper: Bringing the minimalist comforts of space habitats to the campsite.

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,428

Re: Plans for mobile base - on the mars...

Part of the scouting missions from a roaming exploration team is to find minersl that are not only of high value for earth return but for use on Mars.
The roaming exploration to scout for claim sites in the first decade to support the mineral findings of "gold, palladium, iridium, rubidium, platinum, rhodium, europium, etc."

kbd512

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Registered: 2015-01-02

Posts: 7,811

Re: Plans for mobile base - on the mars...

SpaceNut,

If we find all those elements, then we will certainly use them in fuel cells or permanent magnets to provide power storage for bases and short range vehicles.  The H2O byproduct can be retained for human consumption or split again using more input power after it's reacted in the fuel cell, same as the Space Shuttle.

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,428

Re: Plans for mobile base - on the mars...

Methods for Achieving Long Range Mobility on Mars

This paper discusses alternative methods for enabling human explorers to achieve long range mobility on the surface of Mars.

Vehicle types considered include ground rovers, winged and lighter-than air atmospheric vehicles, and suborbital ballistic vehicles making use of rocket propulsion. Energy sources considered for such vehicles include batteries, fuel cells, radioisotope generators, solar photovoltaics, chemical combustion engines, and nuclear reactors.

It is found that the production of fuels and propellants out of indigenous Martian resources greatly enhances the potential for long range mobility, so much so that it may be considered the essential central element of any manned Mars exploration strategy.

In short making use of insitu materials reduces the need for mass from earth and gives sustainability to the crews to be able to maintain the use of these vehicles once there.

Mars_B4_Moon

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Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Plans for mobile base - on the mars...

Let's assume your Bots also Hibernate and Swarm like insects in the seasons

‘Robot swarms’ could one day build underground shelters for humans on Mars
https://www.popsci.com/space/robots-bui … ents-mars/

You cant really be nomadic on the Moon but it could be possible on Mars, moving from one farm and biodome as seasons change. This is why many believe why Tech from a Moon colony might not apply to Mars, however there are also technologies that might be used for Mars.

Gorgeous New Short Film Shows Us What an Early Lunar Colony Would Actually Look Like
https://gizmodo.com/gorgeous-new-short- … 1847034888

Zero mention of Mars in the article, people will be stuck inside a crater on the Lunar Pole.

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2021-06-06 06:38:05)

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,428

Re: Plans for mobile base - on the mars...

Seems that a sky crane delivery makes this possible.