Want Humans on Mars? Start With a Martian Space Station.

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/05/160519-mars-missions-orbits-lockheed-martin-space-science/

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Want Humans on Mars? Start With a Martian Space Station.[/font]

[font size=4]Lockheed Martin just announced an audacious concept to put humans in orbit around Mars by 2028. Here’s how it would work.[/font]

By Michael Greshko
PUBLISHED May 19, 2016

[font size=3]A major aerospace company just jumped into the Mars fray: Lockheed Martin has announced its plans for getting humans to the red planet by 2028. Rather than going right to the surface, this scheme would put a spacecraft in Mars orbit that would do a solid impression of the International Space Station.

The concept—unveiled on May 18 at the Humans 2 Mars Summit in Washington, D.C.—is the latest effort to envision a doable, cost-effective Mars mission for NASA, which is pushing forward on its agency-wide Journey to Mars initiative.

“What we’re presenting is a vision,” Wanda Sigur, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and general manager of civil space projects, said during the announcement. It’s not boots on Mars, she admits, but it does take advantage of many of the components being designed for putting humans on another world.

The company’s plans, laid out in a slickly produced video, lean heavily on NASA’s existing hardware commitments, particularly the Orion deep-space crew module, which Lockheed Martin is building for the space agency.

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[Jackie Wilson Said]

1. Start by NOT privatizing the process.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. When did the space program not use private contractors?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Redstone_Launch_Vehicle
Manufacturer | Chrysler Corporation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_LV-3B
Manufacturer | Convair

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mercury
The Mercury space capsule was produced by McDonnell Aircraft…

[Matthew28]

6. Using private is ok when it comes to contractors

But don't give the right any reason to stop funding science and education. They'll do it! We need to fund those more.

[Fumesucker]

3. That's a lot of hours in space for the astronauts

What about long term cosmic ray damage?

[cstanleytech]

4. Rather than a station why not a base on Deimos?

They could then potentially build part of it underground thereby saving on materials needed plus they wouldnt need to worry about maintaining its orbit.

[LongTomH]

5. That was the basis of the 'PhD Mission' profile suggested years ago.

Put astronauts on Deimos and let them remote control rovers on the surface, including some with sample-return capability.

Another advantage would be the use of Deimos regolith to shield against cosmic rays.