TO THE MOON, MARS, AND BEYOND

Image Credit: NASA · Chapter 4 - Matching Modules and Missions

[See link below - LRK -]

Whether the ideas presented will create more interest remains to be seen.

- LRK -

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This Way to Mars: How Technologies Borrowed from Robotic Missions Could Deliver Astronauts to Deep Space

The best concepts I have seen for a while! Keep looking up . . .

By Damon Landau and Nathan J. Strange 
By adapting ideas from robotic planetary exploration, the human space program could get astronauts to asteroids and Mars cheaply and quickly

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=this-way-to-mars

© 2011 Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

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Having read the article I wonder if this will just result in more plans that eventually get dropped for lack of continued interest or money.

I have been reading some of David S. F. Portree's blogs about previous plans for going to space that didn't materialize. We seem to be good at generating ideas but not so good at following through to implementation. If you check out some of links in the blog below you will see what I mean.

- LRK -

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http://beyondapollo.blogspot.com/2011/11/from-author-top-10-articles.html

Recently a correspondent asked me to identify my top 10 favorite Beyond Apollo articles. Here's the list, in case anyone else is interested. I found that I couldn't stop at 10, so I decided to list one for every 10 Beyond Apollo articles. I think that this list is a good place for a newcomer to start their exploration of Beyond Apollo, which currently amounts to more than 230 articles.

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We will be watching how the latest Mars rover mission, Curiosity, does on its way to Mars. Even while still in its shroud the mission begins with turning on the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD).  Wish them luck on its way to a Martian landing.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

- LRK -

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http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/dec/HQ_11-414_Mars_Research.txt

Dec. 13, 2011
Dwayne Brown 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-1726 
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov 
Guy Webster 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,Calif. 
818-354-6278 
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov 

RELEASE: 11-414
NASA MARS-BOUND ROVER BEGINS RESEARCH IN SPACE

WASHINGTON -- NASA's car-sized Curiosity rover has begun monitoring space radiation during its 8-month trip from Earth to Mars. The research will aid in planning for future human missions to the Red 
Planet.
Curiosity launched on Nov. 26 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). The rover carries an instrument called the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) that monitors high-energy 
atomic and subatomic particles from the sun, distant supernovas and other sources. 
These particles constitute radiation that could be harmful to any microbes or astronauts in space or on Mars. The rover also will monitor radiation on the surface of Mars after its August 2012 landing. 
"RAD is serving as a proxy for an astronaut inside a spacecraft on the way to Mars,"  said Don Hassler, RAD's principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo. " The instrument is deep inside the spacecraft, the way an astronaut would be. Understanding the effects of the spacecraft on the radiation field will be valuable in designing craft for astronauts to travel to Mars."
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Information about the mission is available at: 
http://www.nasa.gov/msl 

You can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: 
http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity
or 
http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity
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And while reading about ways to get to Mars, just happened to see the movie Red Planet on cable TV.  Not the best but points out that things can go wrong.  Doesn't help that you used some military hardware for your robot, AMEE which complicates your crash landing.
- LRK -
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Planet_(film)
Red Planet is a 2000 Technicolor science fiction film directed by Antony Hoffman, starringVal Kilmer and Carrie-Anne Moss. It was released on November 10, 2000.
Plot
In 2056 AD, Earth is in ecologic crisis as a consequence of pollution and overpopulation. Meanwhile, automated interplanetary missions have been seeding Mars with atmosphere-producing algae for twenty years as the first stage in terraforming the planet. When the oxygen quantity produced by the algae is inexplicably reduced, the crew of Mars-1investigates, and must continue the mission of terraforming the planet for human colonization.
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The landing craft is damaged entering the Martian atmosphere, veers off course, and crash-lands far from their landing zone near the habitat. In the process, they lose track of "AMEE"(Autonomous Mapping Exploration and Evasion), a military combat robot re-purposed to serve as their "Mars surface navigator", and Chantillas suffers a ruptured spleen in the crash landing. With limited air, Chantillas is left behind to allow the others to complete the mission.
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Critical response
The film received negative reviews, with only a 14% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 100 reviews.^[2] Stephen Holden's review in the New York Times was almost entirely negative, calling the film "a leaden, skimpily plotted space-age Outward Bound adventure with vague allegorical aspirations that remain entirely unrealized."^[3]
Errors
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Due to significant scientific inaccuracies, NASA refused to serve as a scientific adviser for the film, which it normally does for science fiction films. "The science was just so off the wall that eventually we felt, 'You guys go ahead and make your movie.' If there's something that's going to be so misleading to the public that we don't want to participate, then we'll say no," said Bert Ulrich, a NASA spokesperson. "The big thing is, we want to make sure we're not misleading the public completely."^[5]
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Hmmmm, must watch out for those significant scientific inaccuracies.
- LRK -

Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/ 
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http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/dec/HQ_M11-248_Asteroid_Campout.html
MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-248MEDIA INVITED TO SIMULATED ASTEROID CAMPOUT IN HOUSTONHOUSTON -- For three days this week, a small part of NASA's JohnsonSpace Center in Houston will simulate a human mission to an asteroid.Reporters are invited to observe what the mission might entail.As NASA continues plans to send humans to explore asteroids and otherdestinations beyond low-Earth orbit, a number of questions are beingasked about how astronauts could live and work in space. NASAastronaut Mike Gernhardt and geologist Brent Garry of the PlanetaryScience Institute in Tucson, Ariz., will spend three days and twonights living inside the cabin of a prototype multi-mission SpaceExploration Vehicle (SEV) answering some of those questions.Reporters may visit the test site at 10:30 a.m. CST on Thursday, Dec.15, during a simulated spacewalk in which a crew member will use amicrogravity simulator. To attend contact Amiko Kauderer atamiko.kauderer-1@nasa.gov by 5 p.m. on Wednesday.The public is invited to ask the crew questions via twitter@Desert_RATS; for a Twitterview the crew will participate in at 11a.m. on Friday, Dec. 16. Questions should be marked #SEV.

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http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=35532
-- Paul Allen Announces Revolution in Space Transportation Stratolaunch SystemEntrepreneur and philanthropist Paul G. Allen announced today that he and aerospace pioneerBurt Rutan have reunited to develop the next generation of space travel. Allen and Rutan, whoseSpaceShipOne was the first privately-funded, manned rocket ship to fly beyond earth'satmosphere, are developing a revolutionary approach to space transportation: an air-launchsystem to provide orbital access to space with greater safety, cost-effectiveness and flexibility.
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TO THE MOON, MARS, AND BEYOND

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Management Histories, (SP-4100 Series):

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Virtual Apollo:

Curiosity and the Solar Storm

About Us

This Way to Mars: How Technologies Borrowed from Robotic Missions Could Deliver Astronauts to Deep Space

MSL launch delayed to Saturday, Nov. 26

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Mission

New Lunar Topological Map

About LROC Outreach