Private russian group plans Mars mission within 10 years

[Cecil]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040409/ap_on_sc/russia_mars_2

MOSCOW - A group of Russian space experts on Friday announced an ambitious plan to send a six-man crew to Mars within a decade, a project it said would cost only $3.5 billion. Russian space officials dismissed the project as nonsense.

The program envisions six people traveling to Mars and exploring it for several months before returning to Earth. The expedition is designed to last three years in all, and would depend on a fully equipped spacecraft containing its own garden, medical facilities and other amenities.

Sounds a little fishy to me. $3.5b is way below NASA's estimate of $20b (IIRC) and I doubt that existing spacecraft have the ability to make a return trip. Though, it would be very exciting if it's true.

I'll cross my fingers, though that's an entirely woo thing to do and won't influence the course of future events in any way.

 

[Fade]

Interested in the logistics. How do you shield them from radiation for all that time, and how do you launch off of Mars?

 

[Cecil]

Interested in the logistics. How do you shield them from radiation for all that time, and how do you launch off of Mars?

A few feet of lead is sufficient for radiation shielding, though that does add significantly to the weight of the spacecraft. Maybe we'll discover some lighter material that works better in the next 10 years.

Launching off Mars is not all that difficult - the Martian gravity well is far far smaller than ours. I haven't crunched the numbers but I believe we're talking about at least an order of magnitude less fuel needed, perhaps 2.

 

[DangerousBeliefs]

Interested in the logistics. How do you shield them from radiation for all that time, and how do you launch off of Mars?

They've only planned the trip to be one way... that's why it's so inexpensive and easy...

Those kooky Russians! They can't afford jet fuel and they're talking about Mars.

 

[Ranb]

A few feet of lead is sufficient for radiation shielding, though that does add significantly to the weight of the spacecraft. Maybe we'll discover some lighter material that works better in the next 10 years. .................

Really? I thought dense shielding would allow the formation of secondary ionizations when bombarded with heavy charged particles like the protons found in a solar storm. Although lead is very good for gamma and beta radiation, it would be much more weight efficient to use the support structure including water tanks as shielding.

http://www.islandone.org/Settlements/MagShield.html Here is a link with info on another type of shield. It looks interesing, just need a way to power it up when required. Maybe it is the key to weathering the solar storms when they occur.

If I was offered the chance to travel to Mars with a dose rate of less than 50 rem per year, I would go for it in a heartbeat. Well, I guess I would also need a 90% chance of getting back to Earth alive too.

Ranb


Ranb

 

[toddjh]

They've only planned the trip to be one way... that's why it's so inexpensive and easy...

You know, I hate to sound callous, but I bet you could easily find volunteers for a one-way mission. There are plenty of people whose time is running short who wouldn't mind going out in a blaze of glory.

It would keep the costs way, way down.

Jeremy

 

[Goshawk]

Well, a one-way mission wouldn't automatically be a suicide mission, if they took a "garden" and some standard-issue sci-fi yeast-growing tanks for protein. They would, in effect, be the first Mars colony.

 

[Cecil]

You know, I hate to sound callous, but I bet you could easily find volunteers for a one-way mission. There are plenty of people whose time is running short who wouldn't mind going out in a blaze of glory.

It would keep the costs way, way down.

Jeremy

Of course no government would ever go for it.

Can you imagine the conspiracy theories that would spring up if that were ever to happen, though?