All engines are now installed on SpaceX Super Heavy Booster and Starship 24. Static fire testing campaign set to begin before orbital launch

[F-22Raptor]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1543289714022678528

 

[FOOLS_NIGHTMARE]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1543289714022678528

I am dying to see the landing on Mars by a human being.

 

[vi-va]

I am dying to see the landing on Mars by a human being.

You may be too old to see it. I may have a little chance.

 

[Oldman1]

You may be too old to see it. I may have a little chance.

Can always watch For All Mankind. I'm doing that.

 

[vi-va]

Can always watch For All Mankind. I'm doing that.

Saturn V probably reach the limit of how heavy a rocket can be made.
If human want to walk on Mars, Orbital Assembly is needed I guess. Just assemble the rocket on orbit, like a Space Station.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Saturn V probably reach the limit of how heavy a rocket can be made.
If human want to walk on Mars, Orbital Assembly is needed I guess. Just assemble the rocket on orbit, like a Space Station.

Well I still think the toughest part will be taking off from Mars. While not as high gravity as Earth (~1/3) you’ll still need a huge rocket to get a relatively small vehicle back to orbit.

 

[MH.Yang]

If China, USA and Russia can abandon political barriers and sincerely cooperate in the space field, it will be the greatest blessing to all mankind.

In fact, we are all poor insects bound by gravity, but we are still biting and fighting each other.

 

[vi-va]

Well I still think the toughest part will be taking off from Mars. While not as high gravity as Earth (~1/3) you’ll still need a huge rocket to get a relatively small vehicle back to orbit.

Sure, it is.
That's why we need much higher payload than Saturn V. The landing equipment on Mars will be dozens of tons, let's say 50 tons, so that the human can drive around, take some selfie, piss on the Mars and return to the orbit of Mars.

The return vehicle on orbit of Mars will carry the human back to earth, it will be another hundreds of tons.

 

[FuturePAF]

Sure, it is.
That's why we need much higher payload than Saturn V. The landing equipment on Mars will be dozens of tons, let's say 50 tons, so that the human can drive around, take some selfie, piss on the Mars and return to the orbit of Mars.

The return vehicle on orbit of Mars will carry the human back to earth, it will be another hundreds of tons.

Probably going to remain robotic, until human presence is absolutely necessary and returning to orbit will become more energy efficient. Let’s see how the recovery of the samples from the current rover on mars in the upcoming missions by NASA.

 

[vi-va]

Probably going to remain robotic, until human presence is absolutely necessary and returning to orbit will become more energy efficient. Let’s see how the recovery of the samples from the current rover on mars in the upcoming missions by NASA.

You are right. At least China won't waste resource on human Mars mission. AI is the way to go.

 

[khansaheeb]

Probably going to remain robotic, until human presence is absolutely necessary and returning to orbit will become more energy efficient. Let’s see how the recovery of the samples from the current rover on mars in the upcoming missions by NASA.

The solution is simple they send fuel and food/water supplies years ahead and the Mars expedition can pickup on the way there on Mars and on the way back and precisely calculated rendezvous points.

 

[FuturePAF]

The solution is simple they send fuel and food/water supplies years ahead and the Mars expedition can pickup on the way there on Mars and on the way back and precisely calculated rendezvous points.

But at what cost. Is it basically just a vanity project or is there a purpose, at this point, to sending humans on a year long voyage each way? The moon was a few days each way.

 

[khansaheeb]

But at what cost. Is it basically just a vanity project or is there a purpose, at this point, to sending humans on a year long voyage each way? The moon was a few days each way.

Dreams of the few to feed the many.

 

[FuturePAF]

Dreams of the few to feed the many.

Hope we get some decent civilian tech out of the initiative. BTW, JWT is expected to release its first pictures by July 12th. Those should be impressive.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Sure, it is.
That's why we need much higher payload than Saturn V. The landing equipment on Mars will be dozens of tons, let's say 50 tons, so that the human can drive around, take some selfie, piss on the Mars and return to the orbit of Mars.

The return vehicle on orbit of Mars will carry the human back to earth, it will be another hundreds of tons.

It will likely be so large that it wouldn’t be safe to land in it. It takes a Falcon 9 sized rocket to get a tiny Crew Dragon to orbit so while the gravity is significantly lower I think they will have to pre-send it to Mars and make sure it lands safely with tons of fuel. They may even need to land dedicated refuelers next to it and transfer the fuel. Plus nobody other than the Apollo astronauts has ever launched into space with no supporting pad infrastructure.

They will then send the people to the surface in a small landing pod detached from a bigger mothership in Mars orbit. Like that scene in the original Star Wars with the droids in it.

They then will have to walk (or take some scooter) to the big return rocket (which hopefully is near where they actually ended up landing) which will put them back in orbit where they can dock with the mothership.