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Don't assume that launches for refueling operations happen during the launch window. The window is really as long as you want it to be for refueling. Yes, there
by altcognito 5y ago
Don't assume that launches for refueling operations happen during the launch window. The window is really as long as you want it to be for refueling. Yes, there are engineering challenges associated with having fuel in orbit over a longer period.
I'll agree there is a shortage of plans and an excess of hope in what you're going to ship to Mars in the near term. But I can also see where others are saying -- something this big requires a slow organization like NASA to start planning now.
- SECProto 5y ago> Don't assume that launches for refueling operations happen during the launch window. The window is really as long as you want it to be for refueling. Indeed, the parent comment was making a bad assumption. If you look at it that way, refueling can happen anytime in the 2-years between windows. So say 10,000 launches over 730 days is 13 or 14 launches per day. Given multiple launch sites, seems feasible enough (in the same sense of feasible as producing 100,000 tonnes of goods destined for mars every 2 years).
- skedaddle 5y agoLaunching isn't the whole mission though, even if you can achieve that rate. For every launch you also need hours of time for rendezvous, docking, and fuel transfer. And even if somehow there is a solution to this schedule, you're talking about doing it 10,000 times safely and without a hitch.