Poll

Pick your destination

Moon (Lunar Surface)
NEA/NEOs
Mars (Phobos and Mars)
Other
No HSF (Robotic Only)

Author Topic: POLL: Which THREE Human Exploration Destinations interest you the most?  (Read 45169 times)

Offline joek

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Voted Moon only. I consider that to include cislunar space (L1 & L2).  Focus.  The rest will have to wait.

Offline Warren Platts

I think if we get out of LEO in the next 15 years that alone will be a miracle at this point. Manned HSF ofc, not robotics missions.
Yeah, I barely care what destination it is, as long as we do it. (and as long as it is not just a repeat of the past)
..

So... Chris, Am I wrong that you seem to be coming around to the view that some Lunar ISRU might be a good, near-term plan ?
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."--Leonardo Da Vinci

Offline Halidon

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Whatever the path to get there, Mars. Nothing goes as smoothly or quickly as it does in powerpoint, "and then" too easily becomes "not for another couple decades." I don't want July 20, 2069 to roll around with no human footprints on the Red Planet.

Offline KelvinZero

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Even more importantly, if you're travelling any distance to reach those un-shadowed, or reflectance-lit areas, you'll be travelling through shadowed areas to get to them

Overall, though, I think this will be hugely stressful and dangerous location to work from.

...

Low-lying areas could get very cold, even if they see short periods of low-incidence sunlight every month. I wonder if that could be dangerous if someone wanders into such an area without realising - either to their feet or if they fall?

cheers, Martin

Well bad lighting conditions are always a worry for commuters. At least we will not need to worry about traffic coming the other way ;)

I have listened to your arguments, given my own. I don't think lighting will be any great problem but neither can I think of anything more to say to change your view.

The extreme cold is something I am less sure about. I am confident that it is only a problem for whatever actually touches the surface but yeah you can expect people in spacesuits to fall over. In any case much work can be done with rovers that seldom tip over.

Has anyone done any investigation of the problem of contact with super cold regolith? Several people here have brought it up but I have never seen any concern/mitigation mentioned in any lunar proposals, manned or unmanned.

Offline Robotbeat

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I think if we get out of LEO in the next 15 years that alone will be a miracle at this point. Manned HSF ofc, not robotics missions.
Yeah, I barely care what destination it is, as long as we do it. (and as long as it is not just a repeat of the past)
..

So... Chris, Am I wrong that you seem to be coming around to the view that some Lunar ISRU might be a good, near-term plan ?
Yes, you are wrong. ;)

I'm certainly not opposed if some folks want to give it a shot, though.
« Last Edit: 07/22/2012 10:17 pm by Robotbeat »
Chris  Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

To the maximum extent practicable, the Federal Government shall plan missions to accommodate the space transportation services capabilities of United States commercial providers. US law http://goo.gl/YZYNt0

Offline laszlo

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...needs to be ground truthed by droids first, ...

Um, ground truth never has been and, God willing. never will be a verb.

And how will cellular phones accomplish this, anyway? Or are we talking about science fiction motion picture action figures?

 Please, let's have a little respect for the language :) :) :)

Offline Warren Platts

Voted Moon only. I consider that to include cislunar space (L1 & L2).  Focus.  The rest will have to wait.

Good plan.

Whatever the path to get there, Mars. Nothing goes as smoothly or quickly as it does in powerpoint, "and then" too easily becomes "not for another couple decades." I don't want July 20, 2069 to roll around with no human footprints on the Red Planet.

An even more pathetic sign of our collective impotence will be if December 14, 2022 rolls around with no human footprints on the Moon.

I think if we get out of LEO in the next 15 years that alone will be a miracle at this point. Manned HSF ofc, not robotics missions.
Yeah, I barely care what destination it is, as long as we do it. (and as long as it is not just a repeat of the past)
..

So... Chris, Am I wrong that you seem to be coming around to the view that some Lunar ISRU might be a good, near-term plan ?
Yes, you are wrong. ;)

I'm certainly not opposed if some folks want to give it a shot, though.

Even if they're NASA folks? :)

Has anyone done any investigation of the problem of contact with super cold regolith? Several people here have brought it up but I have never seen any concern/mitigation mentioned in any lunar proposals, manned or unmanned.

There are companies out there that do a good business selling protective clothing for working with crygenic liquids. They constantly never to immerse a gloved hand in liquid nitrogen; not sure if that's just for insurance purposes or what, but evidently, there is a distinction between touching or grasping something solid that's been cooled to crygenic temperatures, versus immersion in a crygenic liquid. The main thing is to select a material that's going to stay flexible at supercold temps. Falling down shouldn't be a big deal. Probably wouldn't want to just lay there, so you would probably want to have some form of the buddy system when walking in crygenic craters!
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."--Leonardo Da Vinci

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