Clark Lindsey has dropped in on the Mars Society conference, which is in DC this year, and has some first-hand reports, on Mike Griffin's speech and the latest from Elon Musk and SpaceX.

I haven't spent much time reading them myself, being too busy, but when I do later, I may have some thoughts.

One question I do have, though. Just how big does Mike think is big enough for a heavy lifter for a Mars mission? How many decades does he plan to put off developing the critical technologies of orbital storage and handling of propellants, and vehicle assembly?

> One question I do have, though. Just how big does Mike think is big enough
> for a heavy lifter for a Mars mission?

From spacepolitics.com:

"Why did we not do that? We didn't do that because if I want to go to Mars, and I believe I need something like a million pounds in low Earth orbit to do that, then I want to do that in five or six launches, not 10 or 12."

So, the answer is 166,000-200,000 pounds.

Of course, Griffin doesn't explain why 5-6 launches are better than 10-12, except for the fact that he "wants" it.

> How many decades does he plan to put off developing the critical
> tchnologies of orbital storage and handling of propellants, and vehicle assembly?

Since he's talking about 5-6 launches vs 10-12, he'll still have to do orbital assembly. The operations are similar either way, the principle difference being the number of times you need to repeat the operation (which, of course, get easier with practice). This makes Mike's objections even sillier.

"This makes Mike's objections even sillier."

So, Mike Griffin, dumb, Ed Wright smart.