At Least Musk Finally Admits The Truth

[Minimalist]

Mars is dangerous.


https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/27/tech/elon...index.html

Elon Musk on Mars: 'You might not come back alive'

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Have you just now noticed that?

Red Planet: Don't go into orbit around Mars.
Mission to Mars: Don't go into orbit around Mars.
The Martian: Don't go into orbit around Mars.

[Minimalist]

What about the radiation exposure on the way to Mars?

But for missions further away from the Earth’s protective magnetic field, cosmic rays would be more of a problem. On its journey to Mars, the Curiosity rover provided crucial data on this and it was higher than expected. A round-trip manned mission to Mars would expose the astronauts to up to four times the advised career limits for astronauts of radiation due to galactic cosmic rays.

https://theconversation.com/how-much-rad...pace-60475




This was funny when Bill Maher did it



But it won't be so funny for people actually trying to do it.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Ice. Lining the hull. It's drinking water and shielding. Do try to keep up.

[GenesisNemesis]

Not a fan of Musk at all, but I think everyone understood that a mission to another planet that doesn't have the same atmosphere or radiation protection as Earth's was going to be dangerous.

[Minimalist]

Water is relatively heavy.  Weight is always a problem on space flights.

Lead has the same problem.


The ISS is a marvel of recycling when it comes to water..... even if it means they are drinking piss.  But they still need supplemental resupply from earth.

[GenesisNemesis]

I'll tell ya who likes to drink piss... REPUBLIKKKUNTS. Amirite?

[Minimalist]

Probably.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Mars is dangerous? Who knew?

You may as well tell us that water's wet, Einstein.

[Minimalist]

What's amusing about the story is the invocation of Shackleton. 

Shackleton planned to go himself...... whereas Musk says, "you guys go.  And make sure you write."

[Peebothuhlu]

Water is relatively heavy.  Weight is always a problem on space flights.

Lead has the same problem.


The ISS is a marvel of recycling when it comes to water..... even if it means they are drinking piss.  But they still need supplemental resupply from earth.

Everything is 'Heavy'.

Something's 'Mass' is only important when you,

(1) Wish to get it into a stable orbit.

OR


(2) Wish to get it moving towards some where else.

(3) Addendum to (1) "How many boosters are you willing to strap on to acheive (1)?"

(4) Addendum to (2) "How much reaction mass do you want/need/can afford to attach to said 'Mass' to acheive (2)?"

With the proviso that "Once you're in orbit. You're ahlf way to anywhere/everywhere else."

 

Not at work.

[Gwaithmir]

It seems to me that it would be a lot easier and more productive to colonize Death Valley, California or the Sahara Desert. 

[PopeyesPappy]

Musk has always said going to Mars would be dangerous, and the likely hood of dying there would be high.

Here is an article from 2018 where he says as much.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2...e-of-death

[Paleophyte]

What about the radiation exposure on the way to Mars?

That's child's play compared to the radiation you'll get once you get to Mars. Mars has neither a useful magnetosphere nor atmosphere so cosmic rays make it right down to ground level pretty much unfiltered. Ground level aurora borealis would be cool though. Briefly.

Ice. Lining the hull. It's drinking water and shielding. Do try to keep up.

A seemingly reasonable idea from old science fiction. Water shielding works well enough for low energy radiation but cosmic rays come in at relativistic velocities. They spawn a variety of particles, such as tauons, pions, and muons, that more or less ignore mere mortal matter. For that you're going to need either a prohibitively massive shield or technologies we haven't discovered yet.

[c172]

Hashbrowns are my favorite breakfast side.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Water is relatively heavy.  Weight is always a problem on space flights.

Lead has the same problem.


The ISS is a marvel of recycling when it comes to water..... even if it means they are drinking piss.  But they still need supplemental resupply from earth.

We have to have shielding. Ice is the lightest of the options. We have to have water anyway.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

A seemingly reasonable idea from old science fiction. Water shielding works well enough for low energy radiation but cosmic rays come in at relativistic velocities. They spawn a variety of particles, such as tauons, pions, and muons, that more or less ignore mere mortal matter. For that you're going to need either a prohibitively massive shield or technologies we haven't discovered yet.

NASA is proposing. Tell them they're behind the curve and you're smarter than they are.

[Paleophyte]

A seemingly reasonable idea from old science fiction. Water shielding works well enough for low energy radiation but cosmic rays come in at relativistic velocities. They spawn a variety of particles, such as tauons, pions, and muons, that more or less ignore mere mortal matter. For that you're going to need either a prohibitively massive shield or technologies we haven't discovered yet.

NASA is proposing. Tell them they're behind the curve and you're smarter than they are.

I don't doubt that NASA has proposed something of this type but for what and how feasible?

[Cavebear]

A seemingly reasonable idea from old science fiction. Water shielding works well enough for low energy radiation but cosmic rays come in at relativistic velocities. They spawn a variety of particles, such as tauons, pions, and muons, that more or less ignore mere mortal matter. For that you're going to need either a prohibitively massive shield or technologies we haven't discovered yet.

NASA is proposing. Tell them they're behind the curve and you're smarter than they are.

Moon first. Build or send manufactured devices there. Then from there to Mars when the Moon works OK. Baby steps...

[adey67]

If God had wanted us to travel to Mars he'd have made us aliens. 

[c172]

Meanwhile, SN-15 completes its 10-km hop test at Boca Chica. Didn't explode on impact this time. Landed quite normally, but it did catch fire at the tail. Fire seems to be out.

SN-16, I assume, is next, but I'm not sure how many of these practice flights are to occur before their next big thing (I guess this is in practice for Mars activity? That seems so long off, though).

[Minimalist]

Looks as if they have discovered another serious problem.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59996331

Space travel destroys red blood cells faster than on Earth

Scientists have discovered more about why space travel makes astronauts anaemic when they return to Earth.
Canadian researchers say 50% more red blood cells are destroyed in space and this continues for however long the mission lasts.
As a result, long voyages to the Moon, Mars and beyond may be a challenge, they say.

[skyking]

besides the romance aspect, robotic missions do it better safer cheaper. Working on AI seems far more productive for space exploration.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Clearly we need to establish a zero-g colony in orbit that has very little shielding so that we can evolve the astronauts for this mission.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Having found a shit ton of ice on our moon the problem of lifting tons of ice off the Earth is simplified.