Stick the Landing

This is as significant as the flight of Charles Lindbergh across the Atlantic. All of a sudden, outer space got a lot closer. 

The sticker price of this 14 storey, Falcon 9 stage 1 is roughly 60 million dollars. This baby will get you to the ISS more economically than any other vehicle available.

Occupy Mars is no joke.

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Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on April 9, 2016 at 3:21pm
http://www.billbonebikelaw.com/news-from-the-road/cycling-makes-way...

Once you make it to the International Space Station (ISS) you have to make sure to maintain your bone and muscle mass for your return to the planet. One of the exercises the astronauts use is cycling. Watch the video of astronaut Doug Wheelock, (yes, that is his real name) cycle on the space station.

Ok, Joe, it's time for liftoff, let's go! 5-4-3-2-1 . . .
Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on April 10, 2016 at 1:06am

I'm curious how they're going to deal with the problem of vision impairment. I think that one might be even tougher than bone mass loss. I'd always thought the problems would be more of an engineering nature than one of human physiology. But then again, if we could get to Mars in days or weeks instead of months, that would be a game changer. 

Elon Musk, with his modest goal of saving humanity from itself, will probably find a solution. To infinity, and beyond! 

Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on April 10, 2016 at 5:20am

further ruminations here

Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on April 9, 2016 at 6:50pm

I was just talking tonight about how much I'd love to see a human on Mars during my lifetime.  I know that unmanned missions are more cost effective, and I love how the Mars rover(s) have exceeded expectations.  But I'd love, once more in life, the incredible thrill of seeing humans standing on some distant part of the solar system.  Maybe they could have a Mars bike -- probably just like a fat bike. 

Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on April 10, 2016 at 1:11am

I used to tell people there are 3 things I'll probably never see in my lifetime:

  • Cubs winning the world series
  • Peace in the mid-east
  • men walking on Mars

I'm not so sure anymore about the third. 

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on April 10, 2016 at 5:25am
¤ Cubs winning the World Series

I felt the same way after Kyle Schwarber was out for the year!
Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on April 10, 2016 at 7:53am

Although I'm a White Sox fan, I like Schwarber and am very sorry for his injury.  I'm amazed he didn't take Fowler out with him.  However, the Cubs have a lot of depth.  We'll find out about Soler now, for sure.  In any event, don't despair.  The Cubs are still going to have a great year.

Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on April 10, 2016 at 8:13am

Well, Jim, I hope you're right. But I think the Cubs will be playing away games at Asimov Crater stadium on Mars before they win a world series. 

Of course, that would be unfair to the Martian Red Sands team as there is much less wind resistance in their stadium, so the Cubs would have an easier time hitting the long ball. So at best, the Cubs would probably be playing only exhibition games there, most likely during the off season here on Earth.

Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on April 10, 2016 at 1:30am

Assuming we don't destroy ourselves first, i think it's inevitable that we will colonize Mars. But before we do that, we've got to refine the technology and road test it extensively. The moon offers a pretty good test bed to do that. Consider that 12 men walked on the surface of the moon over a generation ago with technology that seems crude by today's standards. Comparatively speaking, a moon shot is a lot easier than striving toward Mars. 

Robotic Mars missions cost about as much as a big budget Hollywood movie (half a billion). I've read articles that a permanent moon base would cost about as much as an aircraft carrier (10 billion). 

A permanent moon base would do far more for America's prestige and might than another aircraft carrier, as well as garnering much more technical know-how and scientific understanding.

I just find it so ironic that in order to save our planet, we have to leave it first.

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." - T.S. Eliot

Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on April 10, 2016 at 7:55am

The amount we spend on warplanes that barely even fly would be sufficient to fund both a Moon base and a Mars mission, I'll bet.  Let's beat those swords into rockets!

Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on April 10, 2016 at 8:01am

A trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon it starts to add up to some real money. And yeah, there are reports that the F-35 can't beat the F-16 (a much cheaper fighter) in a dogfight.

The defense budget of the United States is about equal to the rest of the world combined. Eisenhower nailed it when he described the threat of the military/industrial complex.

Permalink Reply by djm on April 10, 2016 at 7:26pm
"This is as significant as the flight of Charles Lindbergh across the Atlantic."

Hmmm.... Lindbergh was a brilliant aviator, but was the 85th person to fly across the Atlantic; the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight was 8 years earlier.

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