Differences between revisions 8 and 9
Revision 8 as of 2021-10-13 00:36:55
Size: 6037
Comment:
Revision 9 as of 2021-10-13 00:42:22
Size: 5943
Comment:
Deletions are marked like this. Additions are marked like this.
Line 19: Line 19:
------- --------
Line 21: Line 21:
-----
A manned station on a ***Phobos pole***, controlling robots on the surface via arrays of small LMO "low Mars orbit" relay satellites, is a much better place for survival:
Line 22: Line 24:
A manned station on a ***Phobos pole***, controlling
robots on the surface via arrays of small relay
satellites, is a much better place for survival:
------------------------------------------------------
Line 27: Line 25:
*** 4 km/s less delta V between Earth and Phobos, compared
to the Mars surface, and 4 km/s less return delta V.
Vastly more mass can be delivered for the same Earth launch.
1) 4 km/s less delta V between Earth and Phobos, compared to the Mars surface, and 4 km/s less return delta V.  Vastly more mass can be delivered for the same Earth launch.
Line 31: Line 27:
*** Direct Phobos landing by the interplanetary vehicle.
Phobos surface gravity is 600 microgees, and escape
velocity is 11 meters per second.
2) Direct Phobos landing by the interplanetary vehicle. Phobos surface gravity is 600 microgees, and escape velocity is 11 meters per second.
Line 35: Line 29:
*** Robotic pre-manned-mission construction - launch crew
AFTER there is a safe and tested place for them to live.
3) Robotic pre-manned-mission construction - launch crew  AFTER there is a safe and tested place for them to live.
Line 38: Line 31:
*** A 10 meter fractional wheel vertical axis centrifuge
(10 rpm, (1 gee) habitat. It can be dimensionally and
functionally identical to the interplanetary mission
spacecraft itself, so that in an emergency, the habitat
can be detached from Phobos and used to return to Earth.
4) A 10 meter fractional wheel vertical axis centrifuge, 10 rpm (1 gee) habitat. It can be dimensionally and functionally identical to the interplanetary mission spacecraft itself, so that in an emergency, the habitat can be detached from Phobos and used to return to Earth.
Line 44: Line 33:
*** A nuclear power source at the other end of the arm,
shielded by the 10 meter plug of rock in the center.
Consumables and waste shifted across the arm for balance.
5) A nuclear power source at the other end of the arm, shielded by the 10 meter plug of rock in the center. Consumables and waste shifted across the arm for balance.
Line 48: Line 35:
*** A 20 Pascal-loaded cantilever tent supports 3 meters
of rock shielding. The habitat itself is cantilevered
off the rotating arm to circle in a trench under the tent.
6) A 20 Pascal-loaded cantilever tent supports 3 meters of rock shielding. The habitat itself is cantilevered off the rotating arm to circle in a trench under the tent.
Line 52: Line 37:
*** Crew ingress/egress up the arm to the pivot, then over
ziplines from the pivot to locations the outside surface.
7) Crew ingress/egress up the arm to the pivot, then over ziplines from the pivot to locations the outside surface.
Line 55: Line 39:
*** A crew of humanity's most clever and versatile
instrument builders on the spot, assembling new analytical
instruments from component stockpiles. Delivering
assembled probes to the Martian surface to follow up new
discoveries as they are made. Discovery-driven science
packages can be constructed and delivered anywhere on
the Martian surface in days, not decades.
8) A crew of humanity's most clever and versatile instrument builders on the spot, assembling new analytical instruments from component stockpiles. Delivering assembled probes to the Martian surface to follow up new discoveries as they are made. Discovery-driven science packages can be constructed and delivered anywhere on the Martian surface in days, not decades.
Line 63: Line 41:
*** Or to repair the crew habitat or return vehicle ...
Imagine Apollo 13, but using local resources to build and
replenish a new LOX tank.
9) Or to repair the crew habitat or return vehicle ... Imagine Apollo 13, but using local resources to build and replenish a new LOX tank.
Line 67: Line 43:
*** 85% sunlight to rotating sun-tracking photovoltaics.
Phobos axial tilt is 26 degrees to the ecliptic, "night"
is a one hour Mars eclipse every 7 hour 40 minute orbit.
10) 85% sunlight to rotating sun-tracking photovoltaics.  Phobos axial tilt is 26 degrees to the ecliptic, "night" is a one hour Mars eclipse every 7 hour 40 minute orbit.
Line 71: Line 45:
*** Base-local polar PV is good for half the Martian year.
After arrival, during Phobos-polar summer, build a high
voltage power line to the opposite pole of Phobos, 10 km
away, migrating most of the solar panels twice Mars-annually.
11) Base-local polar PV is good for half the Martian year. After arrival, during Phobos-polar summer, build a high
voltage power line to the opposite pole of Phobos, 10 km away, migrating most of the solar panels twice Mars-annually.
Line 76: Line 48:
*** 90% of Mars surface is in direct view every 8 hours,
the rest via observation and relay satellites in polar orbit.
12) 90% of Mars surface is in direct view every 8 hours, the rest via observation and relay satellites in polar orbit.
Line 79: Line 50:
*** TINY and NUMEROUS Mars surface robots, just big enough
to carry a science package, and track and laser-link to
orbiting relay satellites overhead. Terabytes per day
collected on Phobos, then "big optics laser-linked" direct
to Earth, or relays at Earth-Sun L4-L5 during conjunction.
13) TINY and NUMEROUS Mars surface robots, just big enough to carry a science package, and track and laser-link to orbiting relay satellites overhead. Terabytes per day collected on Phobos, then "big optics laser-linked" direct to Earth, or relays at Earth-Sun L4-L5 during conjunction.
Line 85: Line 52:
*** All the talent of Earth hours away to interpret data
and choose the next opportunities, while engineering teams
design and test the next instruments to be assembled and
landed from the mission's component stockpile.
14) All the talent of Earth hours away to interpret data and choose the next opportunities, while engineering teams design and test the next instruments to be assembled and landed from the mission's component stockpile.
Line 90: Line 54:
*** WE DON'T KNOW WHAT WE WILL DISCOVER, and what we will
choose to focus on after we discover it. A versatile base
that can connect in milliseconds to small robots everywhere
on Mars will allow us to deploy situationally unique robots
in days to follow up new discoveries.
15) WE DON'T KNOW WHAT WE WILL DISCOVER, and what we will choose to focus on after we discover it. A versatile base that can connect in milliseconds to small robots everywhere on Mars will allow us to deploy situationally unique robots in days to follow up new discoveries.
Line 96: Line 56:
... and MANY other advantages, too numerous for an email.   ... and MANY other advantages, will be added soon.
Line 98: Line 58:
No more spam in a can. Send Homo Faber, return Earth-saving
discoveries soonest, while keeping Mars clean and sterile.
No more spam in a can. Send Homo Faber, return Earth-saving  discoveries soonest, while keeping Mars clean and sterile.
Line 103: Line 62:
 - We've spent 4 billion years evolving in and trillions of
dollars (mostly for weapons development) to climb out of
Earth's habitable gravity well (escaping those weapons).
 - We've spent 4 billion years evolving in and trillions of dollars (mostly for weapons development) to climb out of Earth's habitable gravity well (escaping those weapons).
Line 107: Line 64:
 - Why spend more trillions to ruin another unique but life-
hostile gravity well, when there are millions of asteroids
and comets to convert from threats to economic bonanzas?
 - Why spend more trillions to ruin another unique but life-hostile gravity well, when there are millions of asteroids and comets to convert from threats to economic bonanzas?
Line 111: Line 66:
 - Why accept planetary surface contamination and tiny Carnot
efficiencies, when gossamer mirrors in interplanetary
nano-gravity and vacuum offer a 5700 Kelvin heat source
and a 3 Kelvin heat sink?
 - Why accept exo-planetary surface contamination and tiny Carnot efficiencies, when gossamer mirrors in interplanetary nano-gravity and vacuum offer a 5700 Kelvin heat source and a 3 Kelvin heat sink?
Line 116: Line 68:
Paraphrasing Tsiolkovsky, why climb out of a cradle full
of baby poop, only to drop into another inferior cradle
with more baby poop, obliterating the priceless scientific
messages written on it?
Paraphrasing Tsiolkovsky, why climb out of our cradle full of baby poop, only to drop into another inferior cradle  with more baby poop, obliterating the priceless scientific messages written on it?

Phifteen Reasons phor Phobos phirst

On my todo list is a paper: "Phiphteen reasons phor Phobos phirst". It seems to be growing to "Phipfty reasons..." A too-long "summary" follows:

Mars life would have diverged radically as conditions worsened, evolving towards biochemical "Life 2.0" compared to different-conditions Earth. Surviving molecular traces will likely be rare, but if we find them, they can add a long-baseline parallax view of molecular biology, greatly expanding the range of artificial bioengineering.

The hunt for those rare molecules might take decades, processing tonnes of candidate rock samples, but the long term economic benefit of artificial life that is mutually indigestible might be worth quadrillions of dollars.

Direct human exploration could preclude this forever.

A manned lander crashing into Mars after a nine monthjourney from Earth will carry many "human-poop-years" of gut microbes; "kilo-Avogadros" of bio-molecules, dispersed by impact and the Martian winds. Finding a few trace Martian xeno-molecules with that overpowering noise signal would be practically impossible.

Mars is a terrible place to live. A healthy habitat requires thick radiation shielding and near-one-gee centrifugal gravity. Ask Dr. Joan Vernikos, retired NASA life sciences director, about "gee".

Recent research suggests that most "Martian polar ice" may actually be smectite clay with the same radar signature. See the July 2021 Geophysical Research Letters "A Solid Interpretation of Bright Radar Reflectors Under the Mars South Polar Ice" https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL093618


Phiphteen reasons phor Phobos phirst:


A manned station on a ***Phobos pole***, controlling robots on the surface via arrays of small LMO "low Mars orbit" relay satellites, is a much better place for survival:


1) 4 km/s less delta V between Earth and Phobos, compared to the Mars surface, and 4 km/s less return delta V. Vastly more mass can be delivered for the same Earth launch.

2) Direct Phobos landing by the interplanetary vehicle. Phobos surface gravity is 600 microgees, and escape velocity is 11 meters per second.

3) Robotic pre-manned-mission construction - launch crew AFTER there is a safe and tested place for them to live.

4) A 10 meter fractional wheel vertical axis centrifuge, 10 rpm (1 gee) habitat. It can be dimensionally and functionally identical to the interplanetary mission spacecraft itself, so that in an emergency, the habitat can be detached from Phobos and used to return to Earth.

5) A nuclear power source at the other end of the arm, shielded by the 10 meter plug of rock in the center. Consumables and waste shifted across the arm for balance.

6) A 20 Pascal-loaded cantilever tent supports 3 meters of rock shielding. The habitat itself is cantilevered off the rotating arm to circle in a trench under the tent.

7) Crew ingress/egress up the arm to the pivot, then over ziplines from the pivot to locations the outside surface.

8) A crew of humanity's most clever and versatile instrument builders on the spot, assembling new analytical instruments from component stockpiles. Delivering assembled probes to the Martian surface to follow up new discoveries as they are made. Discovery-driven science packages can be constructed and delivered anywhere on the Martian surface in days, not decades.

9) Or to repair the crew habitat or return vehicle ... Imagine Apollo 13, but using local resources to build and replenish a new LOX tank.

10) 85% sunlight to rotating sun-tracking photovoltaics. Phobos axial tilt is 26 degrees to the ecliptic, "night" is a one hour Mars eclipse every 7 hour 40 minute orbit.

11) Base-local polar PV is good for half the Martian year. After arrival, during Phobos-polar summer, build a high voltage power line to the opposite pole of Phobos, 10 km away, migrating most of the solar panels twice Mars-annually.

12) 90% of Mars surface is in direct view every 8 hours, the rest via observation and relay satellites in polar orbit.

13) TINY and NUMEROUS Mars surface robots, just big enough to carry a science package, and track and laser-link to orbiting relay satellites overhead. Terabytes per day collected on Phobos, then "big optics laser-linked" direct to Earth, or relays at Earth-Sun L4-L5 during conjunction.

14) All the talent of Earth hours away to interpret data and choose the next opportunities, while engineering teams design and test the next instruments to be assembled and landed from the mission's component stockpile.

15) WE DON'T KNOW WHAT WE WILL DISCOVER, and what we will choose to focus on after we discover it. A versatile base that can connect in milliseconds to small robots everywhere on Mars will allow us to deploy situationally unique robots in days to follow up new discoveries.

... and MANY other advantages, will be added soon.

No more spam in a can. Send Homo Faber, return Earth-saving discoveries soonest, while keeping Mars clean and sterile.


  • - We've spent 4 billion years evolving in and trillions of dollars (mostly for weapons development) to climb out of Earth's habitable gravity well (escaping those weapons). - Why spend more trillions to ruin another unique but life-hostile gravity well, when there are millions of asteroids and comets to convert from threats to economic bonanzas? - Why accept exo-planetary surface contamination and tiny Carnot efficiencies, when gossamer mirrors in interplanetary nano-gravity and vacuum offer a 5700 Kelvin heat source and a 3 Kelvin heat sink?

Paraphrasing Tsiolkovsky, why climb out of our cradle full of baby poop, only to drop into another inferior cradle with more baby poop, obliterating the priceless scientific messages written on it?

ps: is "Φiφteen reasons φor Φobos φirst" indexable?

PhobosPhirst (last edited 2023-09-10 18:13:53 by KeithLofstrom)