This is so obvious to me I wonder why I beat my head against the wall trying to get others to see it while getting insulted in the process. The mars advantage can be summed up in one word: GROWTH.
O'Neill colonies? Take a good look at the ISS. How's its growth rate been? You're saying something a hundred times it's size or more will happen quickly? That they can cancel the rocket equation? (Not just from earth to LEO, but anywhere they go for resources.)
The moon? Missing essential elements. Does anybody have a clue to how that effects growth? Apparently not. Space and the moon require infrastructure that will be a long time coming even if they did focus on it which today they do not. Someday perhaps.
I claim mars can be bootstrapped. (The idiots that only know how to ridicule can leave now.) What this means is mars only needs two things to grow. A good start (as little as 10 tons of supplies per each colonist for the first dozen colonists, just one ton each thereafter. They can skimp on the thereafter, but shouldn't. Elon plans for a much greater ratio of supplies which is good to hear... can't wait to hear more in Sept.) and a steady inflow of people. The reason this works and results in growth not seen since the space age began is because of bootstrapping.
Martians will not need the imports that other destinations can not survive without.
At this point somebody will bring up computers (or if they're really stupid something the martians can make for themselves which happens much more often than you'd expect from otherwise intelligent people.) They can live on mars without computers as humans have for thousands of years, but they don't have any need to. New colonists will bring all the things martians can't make for themselves with them. Any ticket should include some personal property mass which becomes a valuable asset for new arrivals. They should avoid bringing things with them the martians can provide.
What this means is the fastest growth possible. Mars can handle and needs as many people as will go. Earlier colonists will be raising the level of habitation before the new colonists arrive using easily collected and abundant resources. Resources they literally pull out of thin air and dust. For the one time cost of getting them there, colonists will produce a lifetime of wealth. Both Zubrin and Musk believe they can get the travel costs down to where a middle income person could finance their own ticket. I hope they're right.
Iron for machinery is so abundant and easy to get they won't even bother to refer to an iron age.
Carbon and hydrogen, required for plastics and food will be pulled out of their surroundings with no need to prospect. Water is so abundant they'd have to make an effort not to find it.
Chemistry is not an unknown and the entire earth is available to assist. Mining and construction are also not unknowns. The only unknowns are rates and evidence suggest some of those rates (like plant growth in a carbon rich environment) will even be greater on mars than on earth. Side question: If plants evolved on earth why are they carbon deprived? Just wondering.
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Dealing with the rest.
I've discussed why mars gravity does not prevent us from starting a mars colony, now to dispose of the rest...
He's referring to highly reactive perchlorates in mars soil. The highly reactive is the good part. It means when they go from a toxic environment to their clean shirtsleeve habitats it will be very easy to clean. They may just need some humidity in the airlock and correct pressure flow from their main living area. I've worked in such environments and it's no big deal. Mars doesn't need toxic soil to kill ya. They will follow certain protocols is all.
excavating and beneficiating
This is known as grasping at straws. Mining is not a recent invention. Humans have been doing it for thousands of years.
chemical reactions that will be required to extract useful minerals
More straws, this time only hundreds of years (for modern chemistry.)
maintenance requirements
Things wear and things break. Now we're back to the thousands of years threshold. This deserves a bit more discussion. You know who fixes things? The people these ridiculers look down on. They have contempt for those that can do things they can't do themselves. It's unfreaking believable. I can't true a lathe, something most machinists can do with out even thinking about it. But I would never disparage them for not being great CNC programmers which is not generally their thing. They can repair parts. They can make those parts from raw material. They can make the tools to make those parts. They don't even need a 3D printer to do any of it, but will certainly use one when available.
But I'm the delusional one!!! What disappoints me is from all the intelligent commentors over there to jump on the ridicule band wagon rather than use reason. I know they know better.
...the degree of toxicity of the soil, and necessary techniques to detoxify it, the difficulty in excavating and beneficiating it, the types of chemical reactions that will be required to extract useful minerals from it, the maintenance requirements for using machinery there…toxicity of the soil
He's referring to highly reactive perchlorates in mars soil. The highly reactive is the good part. It means when they go from a toxic environment to their clean shirtsleeve habitats it will be very easy to clean. They may just need some humidity in the airlock and correct pressure flow from their main living area. I've worked in such environments and it's no big deal. Mars doesn't need toxic soil to kill ya. They will follow certain protocols is all.
excavating and beneficiating
This is known as grasping at straws. Mining is not a recent invention. Humans have been doing it for thousands of years.
chemical reactions that will be required to extract useful minerals
More straws, this time only hundreds of years (for modern chemistry.)
maintenance requirements
Things wear and things break. Now we're back to the thousands of years threshold. This deserves a bit more discussion. You know who fixes things? The people these ridiculers look down on. They have contempt for those that can do things they can't do themselves. It's unfreaking believable. I can't true a lathe, something most machinists can do with out even thinking about it. But I would never disparage them for not being great CNC programmers which is not generally their thing. They can repair parts. They can make those parts from raw material. They can make the tools to make those parts. They don't even need a 3D printer to do any of it, but will certainly use one when available.
But I'm the delusional one!!! What disappoints me is from all the intelligent commentors over there to jump on the ridicule band wagon rather than use reason. I know they know better.
My left foot
Ah bureaucracy. My foot is developing another wound like the one that put me in the hospital last time for six months and cost me three bones. So I went to make an appointment Friday with my wound guy. The office gal says I first need to make an appointment with my doctor to get a referral, so I have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow.
I've caught it early enough. The last time I could have died because of incompetence by quite a few health 'professionals.' Someone finally noticed my white count and I went into surgery the next day. The problem was known a month before that because I complained to everyone in earshot.
The death rate for just one of the 18 things I have (from kidney to heart failure) that could kill me was 25%. They even fitted me with a portable defibrillator which I refuse to wear. I have an oxygen compressor but don't use it the 24/7 I'm supposed to because I don't want to become dependent on it (as was happening. I'd rather fight for breath.)
But what really bothers me is we live in a day when this almost completely defines the right. So much so that I am assured of being ridiculed even to suggest.
I've caught it early enough. The last time I could have died because of incompetence by quite a few health 'professionals.' Someone finally noticed my white count and I went into surgery the next day. The problem was known a month before that because I complained to everyone in earshot.
The death rate for just one of the 18 things I have (from kidney to heart failure) that could kill me was 25%. They even fitted me with a portable defibrillator which I refuse to wear. I have an oxygen compressor but don't use it the 24/7 I'm supposed to because I don't want to become dependent on it (as was happening. I'd rather fight for breath.)
But what really bothers me is we live in a day when this almost completely defines the right. So much so that I am assured of being ridiculed even to suggest.
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Bezos vs. Musk
This post will be a long comment.
Gregg is absolutely right about Bezos and I'd go further in that the first reaction of the vast majority is to tell others what they should do (even at the trivial level)... I may sound like that with my focus on mars, but the reality is I couldn't back the following statement any greater:
I've been playing strategic games for over forty years. One thing you can't help but notice is little choices have huge influences on future expansion. If you don't think games have real world application you haven't paid attention to how the military trains. They don't have the luxury of less effective measures. Games are serious. (Here's one that can take months of commitment.)
So I look at expansion into the universe as an economic and social game. What's the most effective way to do it?
The first principle is top down or bottom up. People like Bezos, that would tell us all what we should do, are top down people. This only works within limits and is severely counter productive outside those strict limits. This is the communist model. Musk just wants to sell tickets. If you don't want to go to mars then don't buy a ticket. If you do buy a ticket you are free to make your own choices once on mars. Musk will still try to sell you stuff, but not to limit your choices. This is the free enterprise model. (Off topic: Mars One wants colonists to all be their employees and doesn't support private property rights.)
What leads to the fastest expansion is individual freedom of choice... a very bottom up way of doing things. Ironically, almost every published plan to colonize mars is of the top down variety. Done that way, mars offers little advantage over other options. Why mars is the preferred first colony is because it's the only place in the solar system that does offer the freedom of individual actions. Nothing else comes close. Why?
Once on mars, colonists can independently gather their own choice of resources to pursue their own individual dreams. This is a major restriction both in space and on the moon. Space certainly has vast resources but gathering them for use is the problem. The moon is worse since some resources are missing and will have to be imported. Paradoxically, having vast resources can be a problem when you have more than you need of some things but not of others. That vastness does you no good when it's more than you can use. Productivity and expansion happen fastest with just enough resources along with the individual pursuit of happiness.
In space, you live on a ship... perhaps a big ship having smaller boats, but still a ship. Ships have captains (by definition these are top down rulers.) As a member of the crew, your choices are limited to what you are allowed. Unless your dream is limited to the ships you can't follow them. Down the road you may be able to change to other ships that more closely align with personal goals (maybe?) but that will not be the case for quite some time.
A mars colony will also stimulate space infrastructure. With a steady flow of colonist, ways to improve costs will have what Musk calls a forcing function. Elon correctly points out that growth is not automatic. Without these forcing functions things can easily become stagnate. What looks like advances may only be spinning wheels (leaving behind a series of very expensive and wasteful ghost town ventures.)
I don't want to get into the weeds about how mars allows individual freedom (which seems self evident to me) so I'll just end this here.
Update: I don't think I've been clear enough about individual freedom. How can it be denied? One way is to be the only source of a critical need. That can't happen when free people are multiple providers. Think about attacks on ball bearing factories during WW2. I mean, why ball bearings? Because it was a critical need for war machines (well almost any machine actually.) The moon will have critical imports of basic life essential elements that are rare on the moon... thus not independent (being only three days away doesn't help independence either.)
Mars is not missing a single essential element and not being picked over for thousands of years means lots of low hanging fruit for the early colonists. It will be an industrial paradise. Unless the top down control freaks find a way to prevent it.
Gregg is absolutely right about Bezos and I'd go further in that the first reaction of the vast majority is to tell others what they should do (even at the trivial level)... I may sound like that with my focus on mars, but the reality is I couldn't back the following statement any greater:
...allowing people to go wherever they want, including Mars, should be the goal....and assuming this definition I am certainly not the following:
[Planetary chauvinism] is a term to describe a commonly held belief that human society will always be planet-based (even if extended beyond Earth.)I do believe going to mars now is the best way to open up the entire solar system and beyond. I will try to explain...
I've been playing strategic games for over forty years. One thing you can't help but notice is little choices have huge influences on future expansion. If you don't think games have real world application you haven't paid attention to how the military trains. They don't have the luxury of less effective measures. Games are serious. (Here's one that can take months of commitment.)
So I look at expansion into the universe as an economic and social game. What's the most effective way to do it?
The first principle is top down or bottom up. People like Bezos, that would tell us all what we should do, are top down people. This only works within limits and is severely counter productive outside those strict limits. This is the communist model. Musk just wants to sell tickets. If you don't want to go to mars then don't buy a ticket. If you do buy a ticket you are free to make your own choices once on mars. Musk will still try to sell you stuff, but not to limit your choices. This is the free enterprise model. (Off topic: Mars One wants colonists to all be their employees and doesn't support private property rights.)
What leads to the fastest expansion is individual freedom of choice... a very bottom up way of doing things. Ironically, almost every published plan to colonize mars is of the top down variety. Done that way, mars offers little advantage over other options. Why mars is the preferred first colony is because it's the only place in the solar system that does offer the freedom of individual actions. Nothing else comes close. Why?
Once on mars, colonists can independently gather their own choice of resources to pursue their own individual dreams. This is a major restriction both in space and on the moon. Space certainly has vast resources but gathering them for use is the problem. The moon is worse since some resources are missing and will have to be imported. Paradoxically, having vast resources can be a problem when you have more than you need of some things but not of others. That vastness does you no good when it's more than you can use. Productivity and expansion happen fastest with just enough resources along with the individual pursuit of happiness.
In space, you live on a ship... perhaps a big ship having smaller boats, but still a ship. Ships have captains (by definition these are top down rulers.) As a member of the crew, your choices are limited to what you are allowed. Unless your dream is limited to the ships you can't follow them. Down the road you may be able to change to other ships that more closely align with personal goals (maybe?) but that will not be the case for quite some time.
A mars colony will also stimulate space infrastructure. With a steady flow of colonist, ways to improve costs will have what Musk calls a forcing function. Elon correctly points out that growth is not automatic. Without these forcing functions things can easily become stagnate. What looks like advances may only be spinning wheels (leaving behind a series of very expensive and wasteful ghost town ventures.)
I don't want to get into the weeds about how mars allows individual freedom (which seems self evident to me) so I'll just end this here.
Update: I don't think I've been clear enough about individual freedom. How can it be denied? One way is to be the only source of a critical need. That can't happen when free people are multiple providers. Think about attacks on ball bearing factories during WW2. I mean, why ball bearings? Because it was a critical need for war machines (well almost any machine actually.) The moon will have critical imports of basic life essential elements that are rare on the moon... thus not independent (being only three days away doesn't help independence either.)
Mars is not missing a single essential element and not being picked over for thousands of years means lots of low hanging fruit for the early colonists. It will be an industrial paradise. Unless the top down control freaks find a way to prevent it.
Monday, May 30, 2016
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Friday, May 27, 2016
Ignorance and nonsense
My stepdad had a saying [many actually] when he was alive...
"A wise man can learn even from fools".
Rand has called me a ignorant nonsensical fool when I asked him to name one thing we are ignorant of that would prevent us from colonizing mars. He named nine, eight of which I will respond to in other posts so I can concentrate on just the first: gravity.
Before I start I'd like to point out a few things. Rand claimed (and argued) that I said: "you said there is nothing we don’t know about colonizing Mars" What I actually said was, "Everything we need to colonize mars we’ve already done in other programs." Which is not the same thing at all. My position is there will always be things we are ignorant of until we are not, but that the things we don't know in no way prevents us from starting the colonization process, which will in turn lessen our ignorance. Perhaps there's a better way of saying that, but in no way am I discounting what we don't know. I'm saying we shouldn't ignore what we do know either. We're not exactly entirely clueless about mars. We've been sending landers there since the 70s (almost half a century!!!)
Do we need all the answers up front before we go? That would be impossible so the only reasonable answer is: no. So here's what Rand thinks prevents us from starting mars colonization...
"The long-term effects of partial gravity on human[s, animals and plants.]"
Of course we don't know the long term effects (until we do.) How does that prevent us from starting a mars colony? Humans have experienced long term zero g and had only minor problems (frankly less than my current medical problems, including some like those of zero g, which haven't stopped me.) Then he goes on to say...
"We have zero experience with conception or gestation in free fall, and we have zero experience with anything in Martian gravity."
That's only true of humans. We do have limited studies of other animals in zero g which is why we know gestation could be a problem but not conception. As for martian gravity, he is right so I ask the question again. How does that prevent us from going to mars and learning while starting a colony for others to follow? Can we just not conceive until we're ready?
We will always have questions. Are those questions barriers we dare not cross? Then Rand cuts with this...
"This sort of thing is why no one takes you seriously."
Taking somebody seriously is a choice. But here he presumes to speak for everybody.
I do speculate which is a reasonable thing to do when you only have some of the facts. There is a huge difference between zero g and some g. Some g makes some things possible that are not possible in zero g, even when the g force is tiny. Of course we may need to discover the threshold where some things go from impossible to possible or probable (which is usually more often the case.)
Just to make my position clear: "Mars gravity does not prevent us from starting the colonization process or prevent us from learning more by actually going." I believe this is self evident. Saying this is not true is ignorant. Foolish or nonsense is a subjective issue.
"A wise man can learn even from fools".
Rand has called me a ignorant nonsensical fool when I asked him to name one thing we are ignorant of that would prevent us from colonizing mars. He named nine, eight of which I will respond to in other posts so I can concentrate on just the first: gravity.
Before I start I'd like to point out a few things. Rand claimed (and argued) that I said: "you said there is nothing we don’t know about colonizing Mars" What I actually said was, "Everything we need to colonize mars we’ve already done in other programs." Which is not the same thing at all. My position is there will always be things we are ignorant of until we are not, but that the things we don't know in no way prevents us from starting the colonization process, which will in turn lessen our ignorance. Perhaps there's a better way of saying that, but in no way am I discounting what we don't know. I'm saying we shouldn't ignore what we do know either. We're not exactly entirely clueless about mars. We've been sending landers there since the 70s (almost half a century!!!)
Do we need all the answers up front before we go? That would be impossible so the only reasonable answer is: no. So here's what Rand thinks prevents us from starting mars colonization...
"The long-term effects of partial gravity on human[s, animals and plants.]"
Of course we don't know the long term effects (until we do.) How does that prevent us from starting a mars colony? Humans have experienced long term zero g and had only minor problems (frankly less than my current medical problems, including some like those of zero g, which haven't stopped me.) Then he goes on to say...
"We have zero experience with conception or gestation in free fall, and we have zero experience with anything in Martian gravity."
That's only true of humans. We do have limited studies of other animals in zero g which is why we know gestation could be a problem but not conception. As for martian gravity, he is right so I ask the question again. How does that prevent us from going to mars and learning while starting a colony for others to follow? Can we just not conceive until we're ready?
We will always have questions. Are those questions barriers we dare not cross? Then Rand cuts with this...
"This sort of thing is why no one takes you seriously."
Taking somebody seriously is a choice. But here he presumes to speak for everybody.
I do speculate which is a reasonable thing to do when you only have some of the facts. There is a huge difference between zero g and some g. Some g makes some things possible that are not possible in zero g, even when the g force is tiny. Of course we may need to discover the threshold where some things go from impossible to possible or probable (which is usually more often the case.)
Just to make my position clear: "Mars gravity does not prevent us from starting the colonization process or prevent us from learning more by actually going." I believe this is self evident. Saying this is not true is ignorant. Foolish or nonsense is a subjective issue.
Colonists will have to earn a living
It seems I can no longer post at the space review {connection times out} so I will make my comment in this post.
So many good points brought up here, but I'd like to address only one...
Real colonists will have to earn a living somehow.
I can't see how you could disagree with this point, so let's consider it. Let me ask [what appears to be] a stupid question. How do people earn a living anywhere?
They provide products and/or services to others. Also important is each person serves a different market, some quite humble. So we don't have to imagine some silver bullet. Some will get along just fine providing their own special product/services to other colonists. Colonist will need things and will not do everything for themselves. They will specialize in what they do. Some of these might be big things like construction. Others may provide consumption goods like life support (food, water, oxygen, power, liquid methane, etc.) Food in particular will have no end of trade possibilities.
Where does the money come from to pay for these products and services?
A subset of the colonists will get their income from earth. What services?
Just go down the list of things people sell on earth that doesn't involve transportation of mass. Entertainment comes to mind. About one fifth of TV is reality show entertainment. This is paid for by commercial advertising which is completely independent of where production occurs. These reality 'stars' earn quite a bit more than the average salary which would be quite sufficient engine to power the entire local mars economy. This isn't even close to the only possibility.
People get substantial money for research. Do you suppose some martians would be in a unique position to be paid researchers? The research itself may be carried out on earth, such as we do now with rovers, but humans already on mars provide more capability at less cost for any new research that comes along.
I could do this all day long, but will not belabor the point. Martians don't have to invent some new way of making money. The existing ways will continue to work fine.
So many good points brought up here, but I'd like to address only one...
Real colonists will have to earn a living somehow.
I can't see how you could disagree with this point, so let's consider it. Let me ask [what appears to be] a stupid question. How do people earn a living anywhere?
They provide products and/or services to others. Also important is each person serves a different market, some quite humble. So we don't have to imagine some silver bullet. Some will get along just fine providing their own special product/services to other colonists. Colonist will need things and will not do everything for themselves. They will specialize in what they do. Some of these might be big things like construction. Others may provide consumption goods like life support (food, water, oxygen, power, liquid methane, etc.) Food in particular will have no end of trade possibilities.
Where does the money come from to pay for these products and services?
A subset of the colonists will get their income from earth. What services?
Just go down the list of things people sell on earth that doesn't involve transportation of mass. Entertainment comes to mind. About one fifth of TV is reality show entertainment. This is paid for by commercial advertising which is completely independent of where production occurs. These reality 'stars' earn quite a bit more than the average salary which would be quite sufficient engine to power the entire local mars economy. This isn't even close to the only possibility.
People get substantial money for research. Do you suppose some martians would be in a unique position to be paid researchers? The research itself may be carried out on earth, such as we do now with rovers, but humans already on mars provide more capability at less cost for any new research that comes along.
I could do this all day long, but will not belabor the point. Martians don't have to invent some new way of making money. The existing ways will continue to work fine.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Monday, May 23, 2016
In a funk
Gotta snap out of it. I lost Sunday somewhere. Now three days 'til I have some money. Good news is my rent decreased by $31 and this month I will pay less due to over payment. Yaaay!. I've been nursing my last sixteen dollars for two weeks so today I think I'll spend it.
Rand has been more insulting than usual. Trump really seems to have affected him. It will be an interesting four year at Transterrestrial. I may be banned. I'll live should that happen. I have no TV or radio and would be fine without internet as well. There is just nothing new under the sun and it really is all just vanity. Rand would likely call king Solomon ignorant. I am so disappointed. I really like Rand. His gift is to gather such great people to his site. I think of them as friends but Rand may be right in calling me delusional with respect to that. Friends prove themselves.
Life goes on.
Update: I have $5 left. I couldn't make it into the store so I asked a stranger to go in for me. I was able to make it back to my apartment. So now I'll just spend a few days here resting.
Rand has been more insulting than usual. Trump really seems to have affected him. It will be an interesting four year at Transterrestrial. I may be banned. I'll live should that happen. I have no TV or radio and would be fine without internet as well. There is just nothing new under the sun and it really is all just vanity. Rand would likely call king Solomon ignorant. I am so disappointed. I really like Rand. His gift is to gather such great people to his site. I think of them as friends but Rand may be right in calling me delusional with respect to that. Friends prove themselves.
Life goes on.
Update: I have $5 left. I couldn't make it into the store so I asked a stranger to go in for me. I was able to make it back to my apartment. So now I'll just spend a few days here resting.
Friday, May 20, 2016
Try, try again?
My Amazon order for Rand's book is overdue so I checked my email to find the order canceled. It seems the new card they sent me has not been activated??? I'll figure it out, but it is such a pain.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
This is how Trump will govern
His tax plan was a trial balloon. With the help of conservatives he's refining it.
This is why Trump will win.
This is why Trump will win.
Monday, May 9, 2016
Internet and the new apartment
The provider in this area, Frontier, says they can't provide service to my apartment. Apparently everybody in this building steals wifi from the senior center next door. When in Rome...
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Anne Sorock
"Clinton is but a comparatively familiar veneer on a frothing, violent left that has completely departed from America’s values. Our American culture is now a fractured one, without the unifying appreciation for freedoms that used to connect us across shallower divides. We face coming generations, indoctrinated in the public-school and university systems, who seek radical, destructive revolution and dissolution of our national sovereignty. Reversing their gains begins with leadership that unapologetically declares that our American story is a good one, that our people’s sacrifices for freedom, for others, and for principle make our story different and worth cultivating anew. Any pundits who claim there is little difference between Trump and Clinton are wholly removed from what is occurring in America’s universities and schools, the tenor of what is happening in the protest movements, and the destructive aims of the left."Makes sense to me.
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
SLS Unjustified
Thank you Hop.
Dragon 2 exists and can land anywhere including on mars. FH is made from existing cores and will be flying soon. It has been delayed by other priorities but that situation has drawn to a close.
Zubrin reviews Spudis.
it would take between 8 and 12 launches of an augmented SLS to get a fully fueled manned Mars vehicle into space and prepared for departure to Mars.Only if they do it wrong. This is somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 billion for a single mission. This is never going to happen since it would be following a much better plan.
Human missions to deep space destinations require large amounts of mass in LEO because we need to protect and preserve the lives of the crew, take all consumables and fuel for the journey, and carry the equipment and supporting machines needed to carry out the mission objectives.No. We only need enough mass to get the job done. More mass is more cost. Most equipment should be sent ahead and waiting. Nothing need be stationed in LEO.
No existing commercial launch vehicle (nor any anticipated in the near future) has the launch capacity of the SLS.The SLS doesn't have any launch capacity yet. Other vehicles with greater capacity could actually become reality sooner.
as no Falcon Heavy has yet to fly, we have no idea of what its cost would be.$90m already published.
[FH] would consist of 27 engines, all of which must burn for the same duration and thrust level.Not exactly. The central core, with crossfeed will burn longer and engine out is part of the design. The N-1 failures means nothing.
[The purpose of SLS] was to make sure that the vehicle would be built and to assure that our national capability in this area would not be lost.You have just entered the spin zone! Translation, it's about old space jobs over new space jobs.
[SLS] exists and it will provide a capability that we can use to go back to the Moon and to the planets beyond.No it doesn't exist. No it doesn't provide a capability without new equipment they haven't even started. Orion can only splash down on earth and perhaps not even then from some sources.
Dragon 2 exists and can land anywhere including on mars. FH is made from existing cores and will be flying soon. It has been delayed by other priorities but that situation has drawn to a close.
Zubrin reviews Spudis.
Sunday, May 1, 2016
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