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Can someone with expertise to compare Musk's plan vs. Robert Zubrin's Mars Direct plan proposed in the early 90s?

by devy 10y ago

elsonrodriguez 10y ago
The biggest similarity I see is given away by the Methane/Oxygen engine. This means he's aiming at generating fuel on Mars. The biggest difference is the emphasis on reusable craft. I'll post something more in depth once I watch the whole video (or some rocket-head will beat me to it).
nickik 10y ago
Musk defiantly knows about the Mars Direct and he has ideas from it in his presentation. Mars Direct did not do any refiling in orbit, but rather does multible direct launches. That allows them to use smaller rockets. Zubrin worked under the assumption that the best he could get was a modified version of Shuttle (pretty similar to SLS actually). Mars Direct assumed a rocket with a normal upper stage that then deployed its payload to mars.SpaceX makes the spaceship itself the 2nd stage. Mars direct leaves large the hab behind and does a direct fly back with the MAV. In the SpaceX plan you fly back with the hole ship, this gives you the same comforts in both directions. Mars Direct assumes continually new HABs, MAVs and rockets to be built to keep up the exploration or base building. Its a very good plan if you have a space agency that has a budget every years and wants to continue doing what they are doing. The SpaceX plan want to massively decrease price and thus makes more extrem choices such as re-usability to not waste anything. Basically, SpaceX makes a spacetruck that can transport a lot for cheap. Mars Direct aims to deliver what you need for long exploration in the simplest way. Both are great plans.
- elsonrodriguez 10y ago
  Watched the video finally and I think this is a good explanation. Mars Direct is all about the cheapest, simplest way for a state-sponsored space agency to send 4 people at a time to Mars, with a slow build up towards permanent settlement via increasingly concurrent missions. SpaceX is trying to start a permanent settlement within the first 5 or so missions, with the first few hundred people being uber-qualified astronauts, and everyone thereafter being whoever can put up $200k for a trip, potentially one-way. It's like a fusion of Mars Direct and the very plans Zubrin was opposed to (Elon acknowledged this by making a reference to "Battlestar Galactica", which Zubrin used many times as a pejorative in The Case for Mars). The only reason the multiple in-orbit refuelings and re-usable rockets makes sense is the ridiculous scale (100 people per trip) and the ultimate goal (Mars Trips for anyone who wants to go).
internaut 10y ago
I hope Musk gets together with Robert Zubrin, Zubrin would make a great ambassador.

Can someone with expertise to compare Musk's plan vs. Robert Zubrin's Mars Direct plan proposed in the early 90s?

by devy 10y ago

Can someone with expertise to compare Musk's plan vs. Robert Zubrin's Mars Direct plan proposed in the early 90s?

The biggest similarity I see is given away by the Methane/Oxygen engine. This means he's aiming at generating fuel on Mars. The biggest difference is the emphasis on reusable craft. I'll post something more in depth once I watch the whole video (or some rocket-head will beat me to it).

nickik 10y ago

Musk defiantly knows about the Mars Direct and he has ideas from it in his presentation. Mars Direct did not do any refiling in orbit, but rather does multible direct launches. That allows them to use smaller rockets. Zubrin worked under the assumption that the best he could get was a modified version of Shuttle (pretty similar to SLS actually). Mars Direct assumed a rocket with a normal upper stage that then deployed its payload to mars.SpaceX makes the spaceship itself the 2nd stage. Mars direct leaves large the hab behind and does a direct fly back with the MAV. In the SpaceX plan you fly back with the hole ship, this gives you the same comforts in both directions. Mars Direct assumes continually new HABs, MAVs and rockets to be built to keep up the exploration or base building. Its a very good plan if you have a space agency that has a budget every years and wants to continue doing what they are doing. The SpaceX plan want to massively decrease price and thus makes more extrem choices such as re-usability to not waste anything. Basically, SpaceX makes a spacetruck that can transport a lot for cheap. Mars Direct aims to deliver what you need for long exploration in the simplest way. Both are great plans.

elsonrodriguez 10y ago
Watched the video finally and I think this is a good explanation. Mars Direct is all about the cheapest, simplest way for a state-sponsored space agency to send 4 people at a time to Mars, with a slow build up towards permanent settlement via increasingly concurrent missions. SpaceX is trying to start a permanent settlement within the first 5 or so missions, with the first few hundred people being uber-qualified astronauts, and everyone thereafter being whoever can put up $200k for a trip, potentially one-way. It's like a fusion of Mars Direct and the very plans Zubrin was opposed to (Elon acknowledged this by making a reference to "Battlestar Galactica", which Zubrin used many times as a pejorative in The Case for Mars). The only reason the multiple in-orbit refuelings and re-usable rockets makes sense is the ridiculous scale (100 people per trip) and the ultimate goal (Mars Trips for anyone who wants to go).

internaut 10y ago

I hope Musk gets together with Robert Zubrin, Zubrin would make a great ambassador.