Tag: Exploration

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No ordinary spacecraft

I’m not sure there is such a thing as an “ordinary spacecraft”, but there certainly has never been a spacecraft like SpaceX’s BFR. The sheer audacity of someone trying this is balanced by the earnestness of the effort, and the whole process is fascinating to watch unfold. This article investigates some of the challenges SpaceX is facing.

“To be able to launch, refuel in orbit, endure months of flying through space, land on Mars, leave that planet, and safely return to Earth — then do all that over again — the BFR can’t be an ordinary spacecraft.”

Elon Musk is building a spaceship that's so ambitious that some experts are calling it 'science fiction.' Here's what SpaceX and its engineers are up against.
Elon Musk is building a spaceship that's so ambitious that some experts are calling it 'science fiction.' Here's what SpaceX and its engineers are up against.

SpaceX plans to fly a tourist around the moon in a new launch system called Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR: a giant spaceship and rocket designed for Mars.
Business Insider Business Insider
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Reaching the next generation

“The idea of the next generation and beyond being able to choose between a life here on Earth or a life of exploration and research in space is a truly exciting one. But does the next generation know it? Probably not.

…more has to be done to reach folks at a younger age, and really convince them that what they are seeing is not only possible but accessible to them in the future.”

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www.starletters.com
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More about terraforming

Here’s a recent webinar on terraforming Mars from the NASA MAVEN Mission to Mars youtube channel. The TL;DR is that it will be monumentally difficult, but sooner or later we are likely to try it. In the meantime, we shouldn’t get hung up on the feasibility of the endeavour as we make plans for exploring and colonizing Mars.

Along the way is a great deal of information on the history of Mars, including the questionable relevancy of its lack of magnetic field, and details on what it would take to terraform a planet.

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Defining a new generation

Yeah! That’s what I keep saying! Well, any boots, really, as long as humans are in them.
 
“Let me be clear. Mars is today the focal point of our national space program. And if American boots are to be the first to set foot on its surface it will define a new generation. Generation Mars.”
 
https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/senators-insist-mars-not-the-moon-is-the-goal-of-u-s-human-exploration