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News & Blogs Nasa announces plans to send humans to mars by 2030

wizehop

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"Our next step is deep space, where NASA will send a robotic mission to capture and redirect an asteroid to orbit the moon. Astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will explore the asteroid in the 2020s, returning to Earth with samples. "

SAY WHAT!?

This is kinda cool

http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars/#.VH5VY_ldWsp

journey_to_mars.jpe


NASA is developing the capabilities needed to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars in the 2030s – goals outlined in the bipartisan NASA Authorization Act of 2010 and in the U.S. National Space Policy, also issued in 2010.

Mars is a rich destination for scientific discovery and robotic and human exploration as we expand our presence into the solar system. Its formation and evolution are comparable to Earth, helping us learn more about our own planet’s history and future. Mars had conditions suitable for life in its past. Future exploration could uncover evidence of life, answering one of the fundamental mysteries of the cosmos: Does life exist beyond Earth?

While robotic explorers have studied Mars for more than 40 years, NASA’s path for the human exploration of Mars begins in low-Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station. Astronauts on the orbiting laboratory are helping us prove many of the technologies and communications systems needed for human missions to deep space, including Mars. The space station also advances our understanding of how the body changes in space and how to protect astronaut health.

Our next step is deep space, where NASA will send a robotic mission to capture and redirect an asteroid to orbit the moon. Astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will explore the asteroid in the 2020s, returning to Earth with samples. This experience in human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit will help NASA test new systems and capabilities, such as Solar Electric Propulsion, which we’ll need to send cargo as part of human missions to Mars. Beginning in FY 2018, NASA’s powerful Space Launch System rocket will enable these “proving ground” missions to test new capabilities. Human missions to Mars will rely on Orion and an evolved version of SLS that will be the most powerful launch vehicle ever flown.

A fleet of robotic spacecraft and rovers already are on and around Mars, dramatically increasing our knowledge about the Red Planet and paving the way for future human explorers. The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover measured radiation on the way to Mars and is sending back radiation data from the surface. This data will help us plan how to protect the astronauts who will explore Mars. Future missions like the Mars 2020 rover, seeking signs of past life, also will demonstrate new technologies that could help astronauts survive on Mars.

Engineers and scientists around the country are working hard to develop the technologies astronauts will use to one day live and work on Mars, and safely return home from the next giant leap for humanity. NASA also is a leader in a Global Exploration Roadmap, working with international partners and the U.S. commercial space industry on a coordinated expansion of human presence into the solar system, with human missions to the surface of Mars as the driving goal. Follow our progress atwww.nasa.gov/exploration and www.nasa.gov/mars.

> NASA's Orion Flight Test and the Journey to Mars

Image Credit: NASA
 

Odin

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I really hope there is some form of reincarnation in our linear time line... I would hate to think that I live this brief existence at the beginning of a possible age of wonder and exploration without ever having the opportunity to explore it.
Next life frontier colonist destination mars.
 

DoctorApocalypse

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I really hope there is some form of reincarnation in our linear time line... I would hate to think that I live this brief existence at the beginning of a possible age of wonder and exploration without ever having the opportunity to explore it.
Next life frontier colonist destination mars.

The early days of deep space exploration are going to be akin to the early days of exploration on earth (but probably with less oppression and massacre of any extra terrestrial life we find), which is something I've always fantasized about, and why I get out and travel and explore for myself as much as I can as it is. But to actually resurrect the occupation and title of explorer and instead of boarding some sailing ship filled to capacity with provisions to go discover the new world across the sea, future explorers will climb aboard space ships filled to capacity with provisions to go discover the new world across the solar system, and eventually across the galaxy and beyond (and hopefully not having to reenact a scene from some horror sci-fi movie along the way)...

This is the shit I have a huge nerd boner for, it just sucks that it's not quite a reality yet and that it's gonna take another 50-100 years before we really start getting out into space and start doing the cool stuff.
 
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sucuri

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This is the shit I have a huge nerd boner for, it just sucks that it's not quite a reality yet and that it's gonna take another 50-100 years before we really start getting out into space and start doing the cool stuff.

I think most every wanderer has a nerd boner for this shit. I've had looong, embarassingly detailed daydreams of somehow getting to explore some new planet. :)
 

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While reading this i made an internal note that maby is a bit pessimistic...but i base my relization on our past...
No vagabond crust punk will ever make it to space.
I daydreamed my self when i hurd about the initial colinization of mars.but i realized...louis and clark,christopher columbus all the major "explorers" of our time....came from money,education,and a upper crust gene pool.
Now i know there is crustfund kids out there...on their spring break hiatus from school...but
I guess what im getin at is.....space age exploration will be for the wealthy(or atleast financially equiped)....
Could u imagine what sign a crusty would fly for getting to mars?
Have space suit...will travel...
Could u imagine convincing a private company(east indian trade company*columbus days) to pay for ur vessal so u could go trollop around in space and stake claim for the love of our nation.or a queen...or god...or ur self...lol
Galactic hitchiker
Seeking extraterstials
A warm cryo bed
Will share space ice cream
And scooby snacks

Im just saying befor there can be space pirates and shuttle-naughts
and carbon tramps....theres gotta be some legit kind of bussiness....
The good news tho
Once all the uppercrust move to mars(cause ittl happen like wild fire when it does) we can have all the left overs......that means disney land will be all ours..
 

DoctorApocalypse

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It's not going to be impossible for future crusty kids to gain passage on future privatized space flights to other worlds, they're just going to have to resurrect the old art of stowing away. The main thing will be how to supply your own cryo/hyper/whatever sleep pod or tube thingey to allow you to sleep away the multi year voyage and not deplete the onboard resources of the vessel you were stowing away on during the journey. But it's not outside the realm of possibility that future tech will allow for such a thing, so like instead of having your pack with bed roll, you have your pack with a hyper sleep system or something.

Of course this is all still fantasy football style shit, but it's an awesome thing to fantasize about because I'm fairly confident that one day it will all be a reality. :)
 
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kidbob

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It's not going to be impossible for future crusty kids to gain passage on future privatized space flights to other worlds, they're just going to have to resurrect the old art of stowing away. The main thing will be how to supply your own cryo/hyper/whatever sleep pod or tube thingey to allow you to sleep away the multi year voyage and not deplete the onboard resources of the vessel you were stowing away on during the journey. But it's not outside the realm of possibility that future tech will allow for such a thing, so like instead of having your pack with bed roll, you have your pack with a hyper sleep system or something.

Of course this is all still fantasy football style shit, but it's an awesome thing to fantasize about because I'm fairly confident that one day it will all be a reality. :)
I guess i WAS bein a bit pessimistic
Or maybe i was just tryin to be OPPTIMISTIC about disney?
either way im with u!
*holds sign*
"have cryo/hyper pod/suit
and/needs MARS/garitas/aJuAna ;)"

I could foresee being 50 and doin some shit like that...all space pirate like...Captain kidbob of the SSwanderlust...
Intergalactic Stowaway extraordinare...... Mmm ::pirate:: ::cigar::
 
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Odin

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Just thought I would add the image of the Orion space capsule/vehicle here...
This now... Warp drive later. (crosses fingers)
800px-Orion_Service_Module.jpg


BTW on a humorous note... it kinda looks like an uncircumcised penis...
with wings.

I went smaller (lol... smaller... ) font cuz I thought I should whisper it... but now I want to shout.

it kinda looks like an uncircumcised penis... with wings.

::drinkingbuddy::::hilarious::

Edit: Even in space men have to send phallic symbols. An advanced alien species will think that the cock is the seat of intelligence and the rest of the body a symbiotic parasite... how disappointed will the aliens be to find out cock feet arms and all... us men are just a bunch of dumb asses. LOL

hahaha... hahaa..... aww shit I make myself laugh... '

Self depreciating humor for my gender...

There are of course always exceptions. "Preens" ::woot::
 
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WanderLost Radical

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"Our next step is deep space, where NASA will send a robotic mission to capture and redirect an asteroid to orbit the moon. Astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will explore the asteroid in the 2020s, returning to Earth with samples. "

Am I the only one who's afraid of this? Because I know that tides are regulated by the moon somehow, and that seas and oceans probably have a greater impact on the ecosystem than anything else.... What will be the causes of a space body orbiting around it?

I know how scientists are good at trying stuff without thinking everything out... idk. Just got a bad feeling about this
 

Odin

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Am I the only one who's afraid of this? Because I know that tides are regulated by the moon somehow, and that seas and oceans probably have a greater impact on the ecosystem than anything else.... What will be the causes of a space body orbiting around it?

I know how scientists are good at trying stuff without thinking everything out... idk. Just got a bad feeling about this

When they implement this they will put into effect something called gravitational towing... thats a situation where you send a spacecraft close to an asteroid... or comet or whatever... and you do not land you just stay close and you use the gravitational pull of the mass of your vehicle to change the trajectory of the object.

In this case... we as a species are yet to really build awesome huge space contraptions... so if we move small asteroids into orbit...)because our space vehicles are low tech and low mass right now... so we prolly can t move more than an icy fluffy comet snowball... ( well... at our level now the effect will prolly be negligible.
 

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Don't be afreed... :D It's all gonna be oka
 
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WanderLost Radical

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When they implement this they will put into effect something called gravitational towing... thats a situation where you send a spacecraft close to an asteroid... or comet or whatever... and you do not land you just stay close and you use the gravitational pull of the mass of your vehicle to change the trajectory of the object.

In this case... we as a species are yet to really build awesome huge space contraptions... so if we move small asteroids into orbit...)because our space vehicles are low tech and low mass right now... so we prolly can t move more than an icy fluffy comet snowball... ( well... at our level now the effect will prolly be negligible.

I know of gravital towing, that's how they slingshot satelites into space. The problem is that the mass of the asteroid is probably much greater than our spaceships, causing minor to major changes to the gravitational effects of the moon. especially since half the time, that asteroid will be closer to earth than the moon itself
 

Odin

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The Moon is the fifth largest natural satellite in the Solar System: At 3,475 km in diameter, the Moon is much smaller than the major moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Earth is about 80 times the volume than the Moon, but both are about the same age.

also... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon =

Mean radius
1737.10 km (0.273 Earths)

Asteroids range in size from Ceres - the largest at about 950 kilometers (590 miles) in diameter and also identified as a dwarf planet- to bodies that are less than 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) across. The total mass of all the asteroids combined is less than that of Earth's Moon.

EDIT: ALSO:
The mass of all the objects of the asteroid belt, lying between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, is estimated to be about 2.8–3.2×1021 kg, or about 4% of the mass of the Moon. Of this, Ceres comprises 0.95×1021 kg, a third of the total.


I really doubt that we are gonna have the ability with a small robotic satellite to tow Ceres (better described as a dwarf planet) out of the asteroid belt and park it next to the moon... and note Ceres is still a heck of a lot smaller than the moon.
We are gonna go for one of the kilometer size ones... or smaller.
also the dimension of an asteroid does not completely determine its gravitational force. The density of an object is the biggest factor I believe. Black holes for example have no dimension at all as a singularity... but they are infinitely dense supposedly ergo big gravity.

a one kilometer asteroid vs our freakishly large size moon...(in comparison to the ratio between it and the earth moon is more than 25 percent the size of earth) I will put my money on negligible effects.
As I said there is nothing to fear ... at least in regard to tidal forces...
I mean some one could always screw up and have the robotic satellite tow the asteroid off a moon orbiting trajectory and send it on an impact path into the earth. That would suck.
 
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Odin

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I know of gravital towing, that's how they slingshot satelites into space.

I'm really not trying to be an ass here lol.... just accurate as possible...
Gravitational towing is distinctly different from a Gravity assist... or Gravity Slingshot.
A slingshot is where you use the mass of a planet, moon, star... by swinging by the object and using its pull to accelerate you onwards. We used this with the voyager probes as they passed Jupiter and Saturn I believe.

Gravitational towing or Gravity tractor as wiki is calling it is:

The gravitational force of a nearby space vehicle, though minuscule, is able to alter the trajectory of a much larger asteroid if the vehicle spends enough time close to it; all that is required is that the vehicle thrust in a consistent direction relative to the asteroid's trajectory, and that neither the vehicle nor its expelled reaction mass come in direct contact with the asteroid. The tractor spacecraft could either hover near the object being deflected, or orbit it, directing its exhaust perpendicular to the plane of the orbit.

EDIT:
OH... since I came across it... I thought I would use an image of 2011MD's path to illustrate a gravitational slingshot...
300px-Trajectory_of_near-Earth_asteroid_2011_MD_2.gif
 
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Odin

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Ohh... also this kinda shows what parameters we are working with...

To get a feel for the magnitude of these issues, let us suppose that a NEO of size around 100 m, and mass of one million metric tons, threatened to impact Earth. Suppose also that

  • a velocity correction of 1 cm/s would be adequate to place it in a safe and stable orbit, missing Earth
  • that the correction needed to be applied within a period of 10 years.
With these parameters, the required impulse would be: V × M = 0.01 [m/s]×109 [kg] = 107 [N-s], so that the average tractor force on the asteroid for 10 years (which is 3.156×108 seconds), would need to be about 0.032 newtons. An ion-electric spacecraft with a specific impulse of 10,000 N-s per kg, corresponding to an ion beam velocity of 10 km/s (about twenty times that obtained with the best chemical rockets), would require 1,000 kg of reaction mass (Xenon is currently favored) to provide the impulse. The kinetic power of the ion beam would then be approximately 158 W; the input electric power to the power converter and ion drive would of course be substantially higher. The spacecraft would need to have enough mass and remain sufficiently close to the asteroid that the component of the average gravitational force on the asteroid in the desired direction would equal or exceed the required 0.032 N. Assuming the spacecraft is hovering over the asteroid at a distance of 200 m to its centre of mass, that would require it to have a mass of about 20 metric tonnes, because due to the gravitational force we have


SO BASICALLY>>> an asteroid of one hundred meters and one million metric tons.(way less than the kilometer size smaller asteroids I already hypothesized) would need a space craft of 20 metric tonnes to tow it.

SO these numbers probably go up at the same ratio... and as it is very expensive to launch shit into orbit... we are not gonna use a really huge space craft (if we could even construct one) of millions of metric tons to tow one of the larger asteroids.

I really am not trying to be an ass here... I just want you to see it's prolly not a big deal... so no reason to have a bad feeling about it.
I mean... never say never... scientists could fuck something up... like I said earlier I think the bigger risk is them fucking up the towing and sending an asteroid into an earth impact trajectory.
Anyway. I like it I wish all the countries of the world would stop fucking around and focus more more more effort and energy into space and science and knowledge.
 

Odin

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lol the more I look into it the more I find it is no big deal.

Also from the wiki page on asteroids.
On 19 June 2014, NASA reported that asteroid 2011 MD was a prime candidate for capture by a robotic mission, perhaps in the early 2020s.[76]

and then you check out the page on 2011MD

and you get that it's estimated size is seven to fifteen meters in diameter thats no where close to the hundred meter example in my previous post... and the wiki on it also says that any entry into earths atmosphere to impact would not have major destructive effects. It would burn up in the atmosphere and break up... probably dropping a few small meteorites.

so even the concern of them fucking up the towing and sending it on an earth impact... is no sweat.

::drinkingbuddy::
 

WanderLost Radical

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Anyway. I like it I wish all the countries of the world would stop fucking around and focus more more more effort and energy into space and science and knowledge.

Yeah I guess I'm worrying for no reason, didn't have the info to prove myself wrong ::woot:: Thanks for that!
But I guess we'll see!!
And I agree with you, if people could stop trying to race every other country and put their efforts together we might have had men on mars by now!! Who knows?
 
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