Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Exactly

Saturn V Was Far More Experimental Than Shuttle
Mark Eby — (archived)

We are talking about exploration not business class travel. There is no reason to think you have to have a commercially ready class of vehicles to do exploration. Exploration firsts are accomplished by trials of procedures and/or equipment that have never been used before. They are always experimental. That is a big part of their value - adding to the human knowledge base.

In the Mars Direct plan humans are not even risked on the first test. The return fuel synthesis ship is sent first to test the overall launch, transport, and landing systems. Humans are not sent until the fuel ship has successfully demonstrated this technology and reported back that the fuel tank is full. A second fuel ship is sent with the people as a backup in case something happens to the first one and as staging for a potential followon mission if it is not needed.

The Mars Direct Plan uses redundancey and backup plans to reduce risk, not endless baby steps in LEO. IMO NASA reduces some risks with it's plan, but the reliance on an orbiting return vehicle with no maintenance crew greatly increases the overall risk. Perhaps I'm missing something, but having a key asset for the return home in reach for inspection and repair if needed seems far preferable to me.

You can go to the Moon with minor modifications of the Mars Direct plan. I think a manned mission to the pole most likely to provide resources for a human base is a good dovetailing of testing the Mars equipment and opening up the Moon, but it is not a fundamental prerequisite.

Regards,
Mark

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