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I'm not all that familiar with orbital transfers and costs. Given the 20 year time frame and launch quantities needed, is a favorable transfer window always nee
by evilduck 5y ago
I'm not all that familiar with orbital transfers and costs. Given the 20 year time frame and launch quantities needed, is a favorable transfer window always needed (I'm probably asking if it is always cheapest)? Seems like there's going to be stuff being sent up that would be totally fine slowly cruising to Mars in three years instead of one. Receiving a thousand shipments from space sounds approximately as hard as sending them and spacing them out over a longer period might be desired (and given that quantity, let's face it, we're going to crater a few of them into Mars and replacements will need to be sent).
- bryanlarsen 5y agoEarth and Mars orbit around the sun. Sometimes they're on the same side of the sun, sometimes they're on opposite sides. Using extra fuel you can make launch windows larger, but they're going to come every 26 months no matter what you do.
- mannerheim 5y agoOutside the launch window, you need to spend more fuel, which means less payload. I would imagine sending ships outside the window, even if you can do so at a greater rate, won't help you much in terms of payload, if at all.