Recently the SpaceX CEO Elon Musk unveiled the proposed Mars vehicle — the spaceship soon to go under construction by his company to transport the first colonists to Mars.
The spaceship is meant to launch
from Earth on top of the booster and then
travel the rest of the way on its own to the MARS popularly known as the
Red Planet.
Though still yet not finalized, the first spaceship will
probably be named “Heart of Gold,” a
reference to the spacecraft in Douglas Adams’
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
from Earth on top of the booster and then
travel the rest of the way on its own to the MARS popularly known as the
Red Planet.
Though still yet not finalized, the first spaceship will
probably be named “Heart of Gold,” a
reference to the spacecraft in Douglas Adams’
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
It is planned to have a
diameter of 17 meters and be able to send about 100 people per trip,
though Musk wants to ultimately take 200 or
more per flight to make the cost cheaper per person. The trip can take as little as 80 days
or longer, maybe 150 depending on the year and the kind of technology put to use. The hope is that the transport
time will be only 30 days “in the more distant future.”
The rocket booster used fir launching the space ship will have a diameter of 12
meters and the height will be 122
meters. The spaceship should hold a cargo of
up to 450 tons depending on how many refills can be done with the tanker.
The Mars vehicle is also built to be reusable and the spaceship will refuel in orbit. This is
key, according to Musk, because refueling in
orbit makes the trip much cheaper and hence
more achievable. Similarly, it’s inefficient to bring
propellant for the return trip therefore a team
would build a propellant plant on Mars and
send the ships back that way. (This is
supposedly possible given the natural
resources present on the Red Planet.)
diameter of 17 meters and be able to send about 100 people per trip,
though Musk wants to ultimately take 200 or
more per flight to make the cost cheaper per person. The trip can take as little as 80 days
or longer, maybe 150 depending on the year and the kind of technology put to use. The hope is that the transport
time will be only 30 days “in the more distant future.”
The rocket booster used fir launching the space ship will have a diameter of 12
meters and the height will be 122
meters. The spaceship should hold a cargo of
up to 450 tons depending on how many refills can be done with the tanker.
The Mars vehicle is also built to be reusable and the spaceship will refuel in orbit. This is
key, according to Musk, because refueling in
orbit makes the trip much cheaper and hence
more achievable. Similarly, it’s inefficient to bring
propellant for the return trip therefore a team
would build a propellant plant on Mars and
send the ships back that way. (This is
supposedly possible given the natural
resources present on the Red Planet.)
The trip will follow these order:
1) First, the
spaceship will launch out of a Pad which is under development right now at the
Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral,
Florida. The booster will have
127,800 kilonewtons of thrust, or 28,730,000
pounds of thrust at lift off.
1) First, the
spaceship will launch out of a Pad which is under development right now at the
Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral,
Florida. The booster will have
127,800 kilonewtons of thrust, or 28,730,000
pounds of thrust at lift off.
2) Then, the spaceship and
booster separates.
The spaceship will head out of Earth to orbit, while the
booster heads back to Earth, coming back
within about 20 minutes.
3) Once on Earth, the
booster lands on a launch mount and a
propellant tanker is loaded onto the booster.
The entire unit now filled with fuel — lifts
off again to join with the spaceship, which is
then refueled in orbit. The propellant tankers
will do a round trip of coming back to Earth and getting refueled then going back to the spaceship in orbit for about three to five times
to fill the tanks of the spaceship.
4) The spaceship finally then departs for Mars.
Inside the ship the crew will be entertained with zero-G games, movies, cabins, games, a restaurant to make the trip more attractive for its crew members, Musk promises that it’ll be “really
fun”.
5) Once it reaches Mars, the vehicle will land on
the surface, making use of its rocket engines to lower
itself gently down to the ground. The
spaceship’s passengers will use the vehicles, cargos and hardwares that’s already
been shipped over to Mars, to set up a long-
term colony.
At the rate of 20 to 50 total
Mars trips, it is estimated to take between 40 to
100 years to achieve a fully self-sustaining
civilization with one million people on Mars.
Other details are yet to be addressed, things about
where people will live or what they would eat, as well as
some of the health-related concerns, one of them being how the astronauts will deal with living in microgravity.
The CEO also seemed unconcerned about the problems of
solar radiation , which can cause serious
cardiovascular disease , among other complications.
Musk in a statement said “The radiation thing is often
brought up, but it’s not too big of a deal, there is a slightly increased risk of cancer and there will probably be
some sort of shielding."
He also chipped in "This will not be a one-way trip: it’s important
to give people the option of returning, even if
they decide not to go. And, in any case, we
need the spaceship back.”
Little details where released on who the first pioneers
would be. “We’re trying to make it such that
anyone can go with maybe a few days of training,” he says.
Musk noted that there
will be no children since the
risk of fatality is high and astronauts need to be “prepared to die.”
Who will sign up for that kind of expedition with a "prepare to die" sign just outside the door. But hey, there’s always the zero-G games on the way there.
where people will live or what they would eat, as well as
some of the health-related concerns, one of them being how the astronauts will deal with living in microgravity.
The CEO also seemed unconcerned about the problems of
solar radiation , which can cause serious
cardiovascular disease , among other complications.
Musk in a statement said “The radiation thing is often
brought up, but it’s not too big of a deal, there is a slightly increased risk of cancer and there will probably be
some sort of shielding."
He also chipped in "This will not be a one-way trip: it’s important
to give people the option of returning, even if
they decide not to go. And, in any case, we
need the spaceship back.”
Little details where released on who the first pioneers
would be. “We’re trying to make it such that
anyone can go with maybe a few days of training,” he says.
Musk noted that there
will be no children since the
risk of fatality is high and astronauts need to be “prepared to die.”
Who will sign up for that kind of expedition with a "prepare to die" sign just outside the door. But hey, there’s always the zero-G games on the way there.
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