12 ms·
You could probably put a rocket stage capable of a Mars landing and then takeoff after refueling on top of a stage capable of an Earth landing. I think this is
by lotsofmangos 12y ago
You could probably put a rocket stage capable of a Mars landing and then takeoff after refueling on top of a stage capable of an Earth landing.
I think this is being looked at, as though the gravity well is smaller than Earth's, it is not small enough for a crewed pod ascent like the moon landing.
From my understanding this is one of the reasons other than looking for life to want easy to access water, as then you can make rocket fuel with solar panels.
- el_zorro 12y agoMars would almost certainly require a small rocket to get to orbit, but it would be trivially sized compared to what we need on Earth. Even something as small as the Atlas rockets that brought the first Americans to space would probably be overpowered compared to Mars' small gravity well. Throw in atmospheric losses less than a hundredth of that on Earth and suddenly space becomes very accessible.