It's All Decked Out. Give It Somewhere to Go.

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The-Hammer
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Re: It's All Decked Out. Give It Somewhere to Go.

Post by The-Hammer »

Won't work. The ISS was designed for Low Earth Orbit.

It doesn't have the radiation shielding or the thermal control systems to operate outside Earth Orbit.

In LEO the ISS is protected from radiation by the Van-Allen belts. It is shadowed by the Earth for roughly 1/3 of each orbit. It needs this time to shed heat.

As far as Mars... Mars is much further from the sun than Earth is. That means less sunlight. Less sunlight means less power.


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Dr. Whiplash
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Re: It's All Decked Out. Give It Somewhere to Go.

Post by Dr. Whiplash »

Fascinating report.
Is it time to start the WNM campaign?
Why Not Mars?

(I'm trying to ignore the reality check from Hammer. Couldn't they add thrusters or something?)
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Bar Rat
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Re: It's All Decked Out. Give It Somewhere to Go.

Post by Bar Rat »

Dr. Whiplash wrote:(I'm trying to ignore the reality check from Hammer. Couldn't they add thrusters or something?)
Thrusters wouldn't do it. The station's fundamental design takes into account the natural protection afforded by the Van Allen belts and the Earth's magnetic field. It would require way, way too much work to even consider.
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Re: It's All Decked Out. Give It Somewhere to Go.

Post by Bar Rat »

I'm hoping that the moon talk results in a permanent presence and not just a few visits. We've been there, done that... we could take what has been learned through the ISS, Mir, and the Shuttle program and use that to get to Mars. Bush set the goal, but he doesn't have the impact of a JFK, the administrations following his may want to distance themselves from all things Bush and this goal, while I support it wholeheartedly, might go by the wayside.

We should be spreading our wings in space as quick as we can.
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The-Hammer
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Re: It's All Decked Out. Give It Somewhere to Go.

Post by The-Hammer »

I have seen suggestions about using the ISS as a "stop-over" for a Lunar mission to approximate a Martian mission.

Essentially: Send a group of astronauts to ISS for a 6 month stay, then send them on to the moon for a 12 month stay, then back to ISS for another 6 month stay before returning them to the earth.

The 6 month stays on the ISS would approximate the journeys to and from Mars while the stay on the Lunar surface would approximate a stay on the surface of Mars.
Anthony DiNozzo: "I'm a white male between the ages of 18 and 49 with a loud mouth and a gun. I am the American Dream."

"Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those who don't understand it" - Ambrose's Corollary to Clarke's Third Law.
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Big Media
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Re: It's All Decked Out. Give It Somewhere to Go.

Post by Big Media »

The-Hammer wrote:I have seen suggestions about using the ISS as a "stop-over" for a Lunar mission to approximate a Martian mission.

Essentially: Send a group of astronauts to ISS for a 6 month stay, then send them on to the moon for a 12 month stay, then back to ISS for another 6 month stay before returning them to the earth.

The 6 month stays on the ISS would approximate the journeys to and from Mars while the stay on the Lunar surface would approximate a stay on the surface of Mars.

You first. 8O
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