Perhaps the return trip will be
accelerated by a slingshot. Or else, maybe some new ion drive system is (was /
will be) in the works by that time.
I know I first joined this list (and consequently
found out about SLAS via a question I had regarding a new drive system called
MORPHEUS, perhaps something along those lines is in the serious planning
stages.)
All speculations aside, even if it takes
an extra 6 months to get the crew back to earth, wouldn’t that 6 months
be worth it? If not just for the crew, but for the science it could produce.
Imagine actually doing scientific experiments in a true interplanetary micrograv, or measurements of the Lagrange point.
The second point, about scrapping new
projects, frightens the beegeebus (sic) out of me. I can’t
imagine that projects like HUBBLE2, or the WEBB would
be scrapped, when they are in essence an essential part of the mars exploration
program. (both
have the capability of monitoring mars for the right conditions, etc.)
Cheers,
James.
-----Original Message-----
From:
utah-astronomy-bounces+cyanics=xmission.com@mailman.xmission.com
[mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+cyanics=xmission.com@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Jim Gibson
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2004
6:52 AM
To: Utah Astronomy
Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Bush
OKs new moon missions
Patrick
Thanks for the great post. It was all very interesting.
A couple of curiosity points
caught my eye. My understanding of the current theory
for a trip to mars would take about 2 years; six month to get there, wait a
year or so for
the right alignment of mars and earth and then six months to return. So this
statement
got me curious:
The first manned Mars expeditions would attempt to orbit the red
planet in advance of landings -- much as Apollo 8 and 10 orbited
the moon but did not land.
If they just orbit mars and
then turn around to come back, the earth will be long gone.
Any comments?
The other thing that I am
wondering comes from this statement:
Bush will direct NASA to scale back or scrap all existing
programs that do not support the new effort.
It’s sounds to me like
the Webb (infra red space telescope) project may get scrapped.
The first report has to be
sketchy. I am sure this will all be worked out. Sounds exciting though.
Jim
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