Life in the Solar System

Metaverseguy
Metaverseguy: Mars was a dud, but there may be life on one of the ice moons of Saturn named "Enceladus"
3 years ago Report
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drive2succeed
drive2succeed: They should propel the space station into orbit around Mars, make a new station orbiting Earth, then create a couple refueling stations between the two planets. Yes eventually the gas stations will rotate towards larger bodies, but they could have jets on them to navigate their path. I've heard there is ice caps and microbial life on the red planet, yet it still has no atmosphere, or O-zone layer.
2 years ago Report
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Corwin
Corwin: @Dr Emdee:
There are a few major flaws with those ideas.


"Moving the ISS to Mars"

-- The ISS space station isn't self-sufficient, and requires frequent resupply from Earth, typically every month or two, but can last up to 90 days without resupply. This is relatively easy to do while the station is in Low Earth Orbit.
These resupplies include drinking water, breathable air, food, and fresh laundry (no laundromat on the ISS ), and exchanging the crew, and picking up the trash to send back down to Earth.
-- Sending resupply rockets to Mars every several weeks would be EXTREMELY expensive, even if it was possible -- which it isn't (at least not with present rocket technology).
The orbits of the two planets have to align properly to allow a "Launch Window", which happens every 26 months. That's a long time to wait for resupply.

-- And what purpose would this orbiting Mars station serve? We don't even know what we built the ISS for, except as a novelty. Some refer to the ISS as "A solution waiting for a problem." Apart from a testing and training platform to observe the effects of long-term weightlessness on the human body (which is important if we're going to Mars ), it's otherwise merely a cool space-toy and status-symbol for a handful of rich nations.

-- Another problem with a permanently orbiting station around Mars is lack of protection from the hard radiation from Solar Wind, Solar Flares, and Cosmic Rays. The ISS is well shielded within Earth's magnetic field, whereas Mars has no such magnetic field. An orbiting station around Mars could be a possibility, but it couldn't be the ISS -- it's not designed to withstand nor protect the crew from that level of hard radiation.

Theoretically, a permanent base on the surface of Mars could be self-sufficient, with food farmed hydroponically within the base, and raw resources (such as water and breathable air) mined from the thin CO2 atmosphere and water-ice beneath the surface. Rocket-fuel could also be manufactured in this way. But this is a LONG way off, and likely won't happen this century. And on the Martian surface there's still the hard radiation issue -- bases such as this would be best tunneled or buried beneath the surface.
We'll be lucky to see a man visit Mars this century, never mind a permanent self-sufficient base.


"Refueling stations between Earth and Mars"

-- Spacecraft don't work like that. A spacecraft travels on a "Ballistic Trajectory", or in other words, once it rockets itself out of Earth's orbit it's on its way to Mars. The trick is slowing it down once you get there. This is done by using fuel to fire the main motors to shed velocity, and/or the more efficient method of "aerobraking" by skimming through the Martian atmosphere. One method requires fuel, the other method requires heat-shielding and a sturdily constructed craft to withstand the Gs and atmospheric buffeting.

-- To "refuel" mid-point during the transit would require the spacecraft expend a lot of fuel to "slow down" and match the solar-orbit of the refueling-station. Expending fuel to slow down and refuel, only to spend that fuel speeding up again... well, it would be pointless you see.
(Edited by Corwin)
2 years ago Report
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Metaverseguy
Metaverseguy: There is a big asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that is made up of the debris from forming the planets. In the 80's geologists like Gene Shoemaker discovered many large asteroids and comets and determined that Earth and the moon have many impact craters from asteroids. They were extinction level events. Although, it's rare for an asteroid to cross Earth's orbit about once every century or so they do. Shoemaker was able to witness an asteroid crash into Jupiter. This prompted governments on Earth to plan ways to destroy or steer asteroids path if it comes close to Earth.
2 years ago Report
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Nicorrette
Nicorrette: There could be life If there is sun also to heat and also ice and ground
2 years ago Report
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Metaverseguy
Metaverseguy: There's a couple good books on manned mission to Mars, and colonizing Mars.
Mission to Mars by Leonard David and Buzz Aldrin
Case for Mars by Robert Zubrin
2 years ago Report
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Nicorrette
Nicorrette: Imagine that literary english ,I think i would need a translated novel.
2 years ago Report
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Metaverseguy
Metaverseguy: You can see the Earths current location in orbit around the sun:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov
2 years ago Report
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yippeskippy
yippeskippy: We are 'life' in the solar system though
2 years ago Report
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