SpaceX has already demonstrated the tech needed to do it with Falcon 9 flybacks.
[Update a while later]
More details from Loren Grush.
As I write in my project: “There was an old saying on the American frontier about the Mississippi River: ‘It’s too thick to drink, but too thickn to plow.’ Similarly, the Martian atmosphere has been tantalizing aerodynamicists for decades.” They really need to stop trying to use the Martian atmosphere if they want to drop serious payload.
A lot of research goes under the radar. SpaceX innovation is to piggyback the research which really cuts costs.
Bezos instead takes the let Amazon finance it approach.
Both work for me and I’m glad to see the competition.
If SpaceX uses used equipment and NASA communication resources his mission to mars may not be much more than fuel costs.
Perhaps he will make a 2018 show?
Also, it’s seems by using a particular landing technique they can get Dragon 2 to mars without cratering. They would use lift in horizontal flight to bleed off energy before the propulsive landing. I still wonder if they have enough fuel but apparently they can safely put 2 tons on the surface (2 colonists with personal supplies at a time.)
So they pick a spot and spend ten years presupplying it. That’s when we know it’s for real.
“There was an old saying on the American frontier about the Mississippi River: ‘It’s too thick to drink, but too thick to plow.’
Erm, I think that was: ‘It’s too thick to drink, but too thin to plow.’
D’oh!
Missouri River, wasn’t it? “Big Muddy”?
The phrase has passed into folklore. Apparently having been used to descibed rivers from Maine to California. But MOST attributions seem to apply to either the Missouri or Platte Rivers.
see:
http://www.ibiblio.org/archives-archivists/msg02705.html
For some good Mark Twain quotations, concerning Mississippi river water see these relayed to us from Capt. Clements by way if the mayor of St. Louis, Rolla Wells:
The autobiography of St. Louis mayor Rolla Wells, Episodes of My Life (St.
Louis, 1933) quotes Twain on Mississippi River water:
“Every tumbler of it holds an acre of land in solution. I got this fact
from the Bishop of the diocese. If you will let your glass stand half an
hour you can separate the land from the water as easy as Genesis, and then
you will find them both good — the one to eat, the other to drink. The
land is very nourishing, the water is thoroughly wholesome. The one
appeases hunger; the other, thirst. But the natives do not take them
separately, but together as nature mixed the[m]. When they find an inch of mud
in the bottom of the glass, they stir it up and take the draught as they
would gruel. It is difficult for a stranger to get used to this batter, but
once used he will prefer it to water. This is really the case. It is good
for steamboating and good to drink, but it is worthless for all other
purposes except baptizing.”
Except that it would totally fly a hypersonic lift trajectory and use the atmosphere. Less complex without chutes for sure, but the atmosphere does not go away anywhere.
How come every time I see these high-altitude propulsive re-entries I think “It must be another weapons drop for the Martian rebels”?
We’ve all seen how hard Elon drives his employees, so we all know why the Martian rebellion starts.
I was recently visiting a startup in the Valley, and remarked that there seemed to be a lot of ex-Tesla folk there. the ensuing conversation was a real eye-opener – I had no idea Elon was such a pain to work for.
Reminds me a bit of an old description of Xerox PARC: Not a company, but rather a conspiracy to form new companies.
Oh, he’s legendary in that regard. Read the bio.
Musk is an INTJ like me. A very odd temperament. I spent my first two decades of life wondering what was wrong with me. Then during a management retreat while working for the FAA I found out… nothing is wrong, it’s just a rare temperament.