many ways to Mars

[gavino]

Whats the best way to get to mars? Solar Sail, Mag-beem, Ion drive, laser drive, Gravity sling-shot? There are so many ways to get to the planet Mars but wich one is the best and would save the most money! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><span style="font-style:italic" class="Apple-style-span">gavinovz</span></p><p> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

TARDIS<br /><br />Trans-mat<br /><br />Directed hyperspace transdimensional quantum tunneling<br /><br />Tesseract<br /><br />Freem drive<br /><br />Dean drive<br /><br />Hyper drive<br /><br />Spice<br /><br />Telekinesis<br /><br />Space gun<br /><br />Orion<br /><br />etc.<br /><br /><br />(some a little less plausible than others)<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Orion can send tens of thousands of tons of materials to Mars for pennies a pound.<br /><br />Nothing else will touch it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[dragon04]

But you would have to build your Orion in LEO. Greenpeace would whine to no end about surface launch.<br /><br />They have no sense of humor. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Put 'em all on the first flight.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[astrophoto]

No no, they are all on the first flight to Venus.

 

[spacefire]

1g acceleration 1g deceleration. best way. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Put the boron tamp in the nukes and call me in the morning.<br /><br />Sorry 'bout that and apologies to Nillson.<br /><br />Seriously, boron in the radiation channel of a high efficiency Orion propulsion nuke really soaks up the nasties. Total radiation release to environment from a 4000 ton Orion craft launched from earth's surface to orbit is less than a single fifties H-bomb test. First detonations in launch sequence (when craft at minimum altitude) are actually quite small, 1 -10 kiloton yield. Think I have a cheap light practical solution to the fireball engulfment of vehicle problem, too. <br /><br />4 million ton interstellar space arks (for lack of a better term) probably best launched outside of earth's magnetosphere. Orion scales up so well that price per pound to destination drops as size increases. Orion 4 million ton craft can reach Alpha Centauri in 150 years, with 100% off the shelf technology today.<br /><br />Let's go explore the galaxy ! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[ve7rkt]

Manned or unmanned?<br />When? (like, where are the planets at the time?)<br />Using stuff we have now, or stuff we've dreamed of?<br />Do you plan on coming back?<br /><br />In summary, how do you define "best"?<br /><br />I'd say that, right now, chemical propulsion is the best. Why do I say that? We wouldn't be sending all these probes to Mars on chemical propulsion if, say, an solar-electric ion drive gave a better balance of faster/better/cheaper for a particular probe's needs.

 

[najab]

><i>Whats the best way to get to Mars? </i><p>For some reason I'm reminded of that old one-liner: What's the best way to get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.</p>