Paul Spudis deflates a lot of the hype about this week’s flight. The notion that this is a significant part of a Mars architecture is, and always has been, ludicrous.
[Update a while later]
Sorry, I’ve solved the problem of the missing link.
[Update a few minutes later]
More from Joel Achenbach:
You don’t need an advanced degree from MIT to grasp that this is a very stately, deliberate program, one free of the sin of haste and the vice of urgency.
Has there ever been a piece of human space hardware developed so slowly?
Or so expensively?
Serious question: Is it not a fact that Orion is the costliest capsule in human history?
Yes, it has lots of bells and whistles that the Apollo capsules lacked. This one has XM/Sirius radio built in, butt-warmers in the seats, four-way adjustable mirrors and Big-Gulp-sized cup-holders. It’s got a guest room, a fully stocked bar, a laundry room and 24-hour concierge service. It’s a really nice spaceship!
…Orion could, in theory, be used for such a mission, but it’s a single piece of what would be a complex array of technologies and hardware. Yes, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, but only if you keep walking, and are seriously committed to the journey — no pretending or arm-waving allowed.
(I drive to the store and buy an onion. I drive home and cut it up and put it in a big pot on the stove and then go watch television. Someone asks me, “What are you doing?” and I answer, “I’m making gumbo.” And the someone says, “What about the garlic, the peppers, the celery, the fresh okra, the andouille sausage, the grilled chicken, the fish, the shrimp, those special blended peppers you always use, and the roux, not to mention the fresh French bread on the side?” I answer, “I can’t afford that right now.”)
Heh.
Yes, but it provides a job for one propulsion expert at NASA who has to go to all 300 propulsion system reviews and ask if they’ve considered water hammer. Don’t be so selfish; what would he do without Orion?
What would he do without Orion?
Put 400 colonists on mars?
…uh, with 250 tons of stuff waiting for them to get there? The link I gave doesn’t seem to go directly to the comment there. You have to scroll down.
Give me the Orion budget and a telephone and I’d make it happen.
No. Nobody’s going to give you the budget for this.
And it doesn’t matter how good your idea is, either.
You’ve only got part of the equation. You’re missing something crucial, and I can’t yet put my finger on what it is you’re missing. Something in the back of my head tells me you should be doing some traveling and meeting with the leaders of various Hutterite and Mennonite colonies.
If NASA had any PR-savvy at all, they’d have asked the guys at Mythbusters to wire up Buster full of sensors and dataloggers and then sent Buster to space on this test flight. Maybe something for the private space companies to consider for their tests.
I really don’t see the problem when it comes to using Orion for a Mars mission; It’s got a 21 day duration capability, so Orion is a good choice for a MArs mission each and every time Mars passes within Cislunar space. There, problem solved…
/snark
Hey, it happens every summer, right? Mars gets as big as the Moon in the sky?
Well, it could happen. NASA faced a similar issue with the asteroid mission; getting too and from the asteroid would take too long and too much Delta/v. They came up with a plan to solve that issue for the Asteroid mission, so why not use the same method for a Mars mission?
🙂
This reminds me of the space section of that old classic, “Science Made Stupid”. 🙂
“An eclipse of the moon occurs when the sun passes between the Earth and the moon.”