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There is no reason for the whole station to land on Mars. Approaching Mars the whole thing would split to start breaking. Big parts of it (bigger than a BFR) wi

by Mikho 9y ago

There is no reason for the whole station to land on Mars. Approaching Mars the whole thing would split to start breaking. Big parts of it (bigger than a BFR) with payloads--half-baked assembled constructions--would separate and enter Mars atmosphere for landing. Then the station itself will be less heavy for breaking using the gravity of Mars and its orbit for that.

rbanffy 9y ago
I think we were talking about a space station. If it ever lands, I assume it'd be unintentional.
- Mikho 9y ago
  Yep. SS. Also apart from the tech stuff, it's important to consider financial and administrative issues. Building the thing near Earth allows making it attractive for sponsor/ad money and save construction and preparation time starting earlier in space using Falcons. Meaning existing plan does not allow any payload launched unless BFR is built. Not to mention spending fewer resources to build all that BFRs required launching all payload simultaneously during the launch window. P.S. BTW, ISS has limited service time left. So there is a need to plan construction of a new Space Station on Earth's orbit in any case.
  - rbanffy 9y ago
    You don't need - and you don't even should - launch all pieces at once. You can launch them into the same orbit so they meet at some point. It's easier to make the parts meet in Martian orbit because the distances allow for finer corrections over longer periods of time. It doesn't matter if some pieces arrive months or years before others as long as they are all there when it's time to assemble the station. A Falcon Heavy can take about twice as much cargo as a shuttle could to the ISS. This means the launch costs of upgrading/refurbishing the ISS, or even replacing it, just got much lower, and the whole process requires half as many launches (and the modules can, now, be bigger than the shuttle payload bay). I assume the BFR should be able to take, with a non-reusable second stage, almost a whole space station, ready for assembly. Or to carry large modules, such as a centrifuge, so that astronauts don't need to be continually exposed to microgravity during their entire stay in orbit. And with the full BFR, it can return ISS modules to the ground for study or refurbishment which, I assume, is valuable as it allows the study of structures and materials exposed to space for decades, as well as reflight of existing and already validated components.

by Mikho 9y ago

rbanffy 9y ago

I think we were talking about a space station. If it ever lands, I assume it'd be unintentional.

Mikho 9y ago
Yep. SS. Also apart from the tech stuff, it's important to consider financial and administrative issues. Building the thing near Earth allows making it attractive for sponsor/ad money and save construction and preparation time starting earlier in space using Falcons. Meaning existing plan does not allow any payload launched unless BFR is built. Not to mention spending fewer resources to build all that BFRs required launching all payload simultaneously during the launch window. P.S. BTW, ISS has limited service time left. So there is a need to plan construction of a new Space Station on Earth's orbit in any case.
- rbanffy 9y ago
  You don't need - and you don't even should - launch all pieces at once. You can launch them into the same orbit so they meet at some point. It's easier to make the parts meet in Martian orbit because the distances allow for finer corrections over longer periods of time. It doesn't matter if some pieces arrive months or years before others as long as they are all there when it's time to assemble the station. A Falcon Heavy can take about twice as much cargo as a shuttle could to the ISS. This means the launch costs of upgrading/refurbishing the ISS, or even replacing it, just got much lower, and the whole process requires half as many launches (and the modules can, now, be bigger than the shuttle payload bay). I assume the BFR should be able to take, with a non-reusable second stage, almost a whole space station, ready for assembly. Or to carry large modules, such as a centrifuge, so that astronauts don't need to be continually exposed to microgravity during their entire stay in orbit. And with the full BFR, it can return ISS modules to the ground for study or refurbishment which, I assume, is valuable as it allows the study of structures and materials exposed to space for decades, as well as reflight of existing and already validated components.