Has it been updated? The video still says 2014, and the graphics look unchanged (still using the white backshell on Orion too), nothing on the page seems changed, and I don't see anything on NTRS newer than 2015. I think the Daily Fail just stumbled across this and assumed it was recent
Quote from: brickmack on 10/16/2018 05:11 pmHas it been updated? The video still says 2014, and the graphics look unchanged (still using the white backshell on Orion too), nothing on the page seems changed, and I don't see anything on NTRS newer than 2015. I think the Daily Fail just stumbled across this and assumed it was recentThe NASA webpage says it was last updated yesterday. "Page Last Modified: October 15, 2018"The updates may only be minor.
Would be 100x cheaper and more feasible without astronauts. Wouldn't need life support, wouldn't need to return, wouldn't need to be on a human-rated launcher, etc etc etc. I don't see the benefits of including people on this mission.Either way, it's not getting funded for many decades, if ever.
Something must have triggered articles on this topic. I've seen articles in 3 or 4 places in the last couple of days.Here's one on space.com:
Quote from: Eric Hedman on 10/16/2018 05:22 pmQuote from: brickmack on 10/16/2018 05:11 pmHas it been updated? The video still says 2014, and the graphics look unchanged (still using the white backshell on Orion too), nothing on the page seems changed, and I don't see anything on NTRS newer than 2015. I think the Daily Fail just stumbled across this and assumed it was recentThe NASA webpage says it was last updated yesterday. "Page Last Modified: October 15, 2018"The updates may only be minor.The way back machine has a snapshot from June 2018. The only thing different is hyperlink text wording, image and video placement within the page and who is listed as the page curator. More importantly, is that Eric Boe piloting the HAVOC airship? He looks pretty good given his age.https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/eric-a-boe
Dear NASA: Send an uncrewed airship there, fill it with a breathable atmosphere, extend its solar arrays, and let that platform do some good Venus atmospheric and surface science for a couple of years. Then we'll talk again about adding crew...
Quote from: Bynaus on 10/16/2018 08:01 pmDear NASA: Send an uncrewed airship there, fill it with a breathable atmosphere, extend its solar arrays, and let that platform do some good Venus atmospheric and surface science for a couple of years. Then we'll talk again about adding crew...You seem to believe NASA is actually serious about sending crew to Venus. NASA isn't. This is just a concept, and it hasn't been funded for years.
Venus crewed missions are one of those things I think will only happen once space tether technology is well understood and implementable. Why? Getting down isn’t the problem. Getting up is. It’s (conceptually) easy enough to have a manned craft that enters and descends to a platform in the upper atmosphere, but requiring that platform to support an orbit capable ascent vehicle, plus ISRU equipment, on top of all the gear they’d need... you gotta be kidding. ...
A significant design consideration became apparent during initial assessments of the human mission. Airship designs do not typically include a requirement to transport lifting gas from one planet to another. In fact, ground-based inflation factors into airship design as an operational constraint. For the HAVOC mission, however, transporting the lifting gas mass to Venus presents a significant payload constraint. The HAVOC crewed mission requires transporting 8,200 kg of helium lifting gas, not including tanks. If it were desirable to use a mixture of gases similar to air as both the lifting gas and a means of life support, 59,400 kg of the gas mixture would be required. Thus, for a human mission, reducing the spacecraft payload mass dictates utilizing the lowest molecular weight lifting gas capable of life support. Though not considered in the present analysis, it will be of interest to investigate the use of a dual-purpose helium-oxygen mixture for the manned mission.
Venus crewed missions are one of those things I think will only happen once space tether technology is well understood and implementable. Why? Getting down isn’t the problem. Getting up is. It’s (conceptually) easy enough to have a manned craft that enters and descends to a platform in the upper atmosphere, but requiring that platform to support an orbit capable ascent vehicle, plus ISRU equipment, on top of all the gear they’d need... you gotta be kidding. Much easier to imagine a New Shepherd style reusable suborbital ascent stage launching from that platform, sending a capsule up for rendezvous with a tether. No need to have the tether fixed over a particular location either, just match the orbital speed of the tether to the average wind speeds at your platform’s altitude. Hopefully then you can reuse your booster as many times as needed.
I remember the moment when I read the news that Venera 7 measured 500 Celsius and 100 atm at the surface. It was a real shock for a space-fan kid to realize that humans will NEVER step to the soil of the nearest planet. It was only a year after Neil's small step.
Doesn't need ISRU equipment. It enters with enough fuel to get to orbit.This is more than just a pretty animation. The engineering concept closes. You CAN enter enough mass to have a balloon inflate big enough to carry a rocket big enough to get the crew back to orbit. They did the calculations....Still is absolutely crazy and doesn't make sense, but the engineering closes.