SLS To Mars: In Synch or Out Of Touch With Trump?
Why Mars Can Be Affordable And Achievable, Joe Cassady/AeroJet, Huffington Post
“On the other hand, the Space Launch System (SLS) is the key to placing large blocks of payload into Earth orbit. An analogy here on Earth would be how intermodal shipping of supplies and manufactured goods is accomplished. Short haul is accomplished by trucks or rail, while long haul is accomplished by massive ships. In this same way, SLS accomplishes the short haul mission to orbit, whereas the cargo is transported over the much larger distance to Mars by solar electric transport ships. The two different propulsion systems, each of which is appropriate for its particular type of mission, are complementary. And to transport the astronauts, we add in a third element: the Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle as well as a deep-space habitat module, which together provide living space and life support systems.”
Translation from Planet Reality:
“An analogy here on Earth would be how intermodal shipping of supplies and manufactured goods is accomplished. Short haul is accomplished by trucks or rail [which are discarded by the side of the road after delivery], while long haul is accomplished by massive ships [which are scuttled after they leave port].”
Sheesh.
Also there’s only one type of truck and it was congressionally mandated to be built from recycled parts from 3 surviving thirty-year-old aircraft prototypes, by technicians who had never worked on a vehicle development, let alone a truck development, and while they’ve worked on that one type of aircraft, they weren’t involved in any way with designing it, nor were the people who trained them.
Oh, and no-one’s ever built a cargo ship before, either. And the ship’s parts have to be transportable by that same truck. And there’s no actual budget for a ship, so it’s all academic anyway.