EP Grondine wrote: Ah, yes, my understanding...

Well, Chris, to define the back contamination threat you need to have long range rovers operating on Mars, and to have a long range rovers operating on Mars they have to have autonomous robotic vision systems, and I do believe I have a lock of a sort on that technology...

Chris writes: Well, your understanding if flawed. You do not need long range rovers to define back contamination you need proof of viable organisms on Mars. A single Martian biological sample is enough to assess that.

EP Grondine wrote: Of course, with any kind of luck you'll probably understand this sometime during the first part of the next year, after watching the extremely limited and difficult performance of NASA's 2 current rovers....

Chris writes: Not unless you have a rover here to demonstrate the "correct" method. Comparing real hardware with your fantasy an't happening!

Chris wrote: "2) We call the solution to this shielding.
I have mentioned several way to protect against it to you, but you forget."

EP Grondine wrote: For transit, the problem here is mass.

In any case, the radiation on Mars is severe enough to limit any increase in Mars value through terraforming.

Chris writes: Hardly, got some math on that? Terraforming is one way to reduce radiation on the surface to an Earth like manage point. Shielding is another.

(On Mars Gravity-CV)
Chris wrote: "3) An unknown is not a problem, but a potential problem. We are looking into whether it is or is not a problem (TRANSLIFE)."

EP Grondine wrote: In manned systems, when you have a major unknown, you have a problem. The immediate example at hand is tile damage.

Chris writes: You an idiot! There is no relationship between not knowing at what point lowered gravity is harmful and Columbia's fate. We're looking to acquire data thru TRANSLIFE. Which you at first claimed no one was doing!

EP Grondine wrote: In any case, it is folly to spend tens of billions on a project before you have fairly good estimates in hand. For that matter, it is folly to spend hundreds of millions on a project before you have fairly good estimate in hand.

Chris writes: The Bio Staellite will cost something like 10 million USD.

Chris wrote "4) No one but you, a non expert, has claimed this is a problem. I think that sex is a big problem in your own life and that you blow it up and make it consumes you and your fantasy Mars Crew..."

EP Grondine wrote: If you've ever bothered to talk to any of the first generation of astronauts, you will quickly learn that going to the Moon or preparing to go to the Moon put incredible strains on their families... and that was for a short trip...

Chris writes: My point still stands. You have not asked any of the Astronauts about their sex life in space. What a load of BS! I have researched your sexual "isolation" issues with people who have talked to the Astronauts about their sexual health in space and you're full of BS. Ask a submariner what he did during his six months at sea...moron!

--Chris Vancil