Talk:Manned resupply mission

Open issues

• What is the financial effort estimation of such a mission?

• Trying to keep the financial effort near that of a luanr mission.

• What is the advantage of such a mission over a research contract between terrestrial scientists and Martian colonists,

where only the scientific gauge is physically shipped to Mars, and the colonists take the measurements?

• This mission gives the colonists the chance to see new faces, meet new people, socialize, interact, etc. It also gives the chance for people to join or leave the colony.

• How does the lander work?

• I would think about the DC-X prototype vehicle.

• What parts of the lander are reusable?

The whole lander.

• How much fuel is required to launch/land the lander from/to the colony?

To land the lander, 15% of the landing weight has to be propellant. Less fuel would be needed to launch the lander from Mars then would be needed to launch a similar sized vehicle from Earth.

• How many persons are required to maintain the lander after the operation? How long would that take?

The scientist are there until the next launch window. There are two years to refit the lander. The DC-X needed a very small workforce to keep it running.

• How much energy is required for the life support systems on the transfer craft? It must be able to counteract the *metabolism of the crew.

• We have done this before, on Mir and the ISS. However, Mir and the ISS did not recycle CO2, water etc. We will need a fully self sufficient life support system. Because it recycles the waste, less mass will be required to replenish the loss.

• What is the mass of the transfer craft, including radiation protection and energy generation modules?

Trying to keep the mass of the hab less then a fully fueled LSAM. The habitat is inflatable, which means less mass for more volume (Am I correct?). Add to that the tether and radiation shielding. The hab wont protect against solar flares, the travelers would have to retreat to a storm shelter or the CEV, if it has enough shielding. The power generation systems are much smaller then those on the ISS because only the hab needs power, there is not an array of scientific instruments on board. T.Neo 08:21, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Hi T.Neo, I admire your optimism. How far would we go without our dreams:-) Hopefully, all our dreams about manned missions to Mars come true one day. But to reach that goal we need clear figures. What a lunar mission would cost today is quite unclear. As a matter of fact the average cost to launch a Space Shuttle is about $450 million per mission ([1]). Now we can easily calculate the estimated effort of manpower with an average salary of $1000 per month: 450000 persons have to work one month for it, or 18750 persons have to work for two years to do everything that is needed to maintain and refuel the space shuttle. On Mars it will hardly be much cheaper. So, a Martian colony with 18750 colonists is entirely occupied to work for a periodic "manned resupply mission", which is taking place every two years. Well, it seems to be far beyond the abilities of a small colony. -- Rfc 20:17, 21 August 2008 (UTC)