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Well, that depends - do the astronauts still need to be alive when they get there?
by marssaxman 2y ago
Well, that depends - do the astronauts still need to be alive when they get there?
- basementcat 2y agoI concede that it may be possible to iterate faster if one dis-constrains certain safety regulations (FAA, radiation protection, planetary protection).
- marssaxman 2y agoI suppose we could comply with those safety regulations by dropping any requirement that the astronauts be alive during departure. Given that the remaining Apollo astronauts are all in their '90s, it seems plausible that a few of them might kick the bucket in time for a posthumous trip to the red planet before the end-of-decade deadline.
- rsynnott 2y agoI mean even if no, the timing would be rather tight. The only launch window available is late 2026, arriving in late 2028. It would perhaps be feasible to get a dead human there in that window by Atlas V. Anything more seems optimistic...