Re: ISS as Mars vehicle

From: Matthew Montchalin (chalin_at_aracnet.com)
Date: 12/23/04 

To: sci-space-tech@moderators.isc.org
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 22:10:48 -0800

Jeff Findley wrote:
|> What's wrong with a 50 year one-way trip?
|
|In 50 years, ISS would be completely worthless.

In 15 years, ISS would be completely worthless. Make up your mind.

|> |Also, you want to get through those pesky van-Allen radidation
|> |belts in a reasonable time, or else it does nasty things to electronics
|> |(like solar arrays) and to the people inside.
|>
|> All we need is something to hold air, and resist solar radiation; if
|> you can't generate a really strong magnetic field (and I don't know
|> if an board generator is enough), you are going to need walls that are
|> fairly thick and sturdy. As for the parts that are going to burn out
|> when they pass through the Van Allen Belt, that's to be expected.
|
|We're talking about using ISS as a Mars vehicle.

Please pay attention here. We were talking about deploying a cabin in
a high orbit around Mars.

|Those types of modifications to ISS are extremely impractical.

On the contrary, a cabin in high orbit around Mars is going to need a
power source. Solar panels are an excellent way of generating
electricity for local consumption.

|It would be easeir to build a new vehicle (on the ground, perhaps with
|some in orbit assembly)

"perhaps with some in orbit assembly" - what do you think I was talking
about?

|than it would be to re-use ISS.

Just bump it good a few times, and up it goes.

|> |You'd have to "do the math" to see how long it would take and whether
|> |or not the radiation exposure would be acceptable.
|>
|> If you use an electric drive - something powered by solar panels alone -
|> you could avoid the whole problem with bumping and tugging.
|
|Now I know you have no clue what you're talking about.

I got that same impression from reading *your* stuff.

|Solar panels in particular degrade due to radiation exposure.

I already pointed that out.

|As such, a solar powered electric (ion) drive to get you through the
|van-Allen radiation belts isn't a good idea.

Please pay attention here. While passing through the Van Allen Belt,
the sensitive stuff is probably going to burn out. After it is raised
to a higher orbit, you supply the ISS with new solar panels after it
is through the Van Allen Belt. The solar powered electric 'ion' drive
takes it to Mars, and allows us to make midcourse corrections, as
necessary.

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