Civilian on Mars

[Eraserface]

NASA is dragging, so how could someone do this on their own funds?
Aside from food, it looks rather easy to do.

Satisfying minimum safety, comfort, and concerns of trip time, what could this be expected to cost?

 

[buleyb]

easy? i don't think its an easy problem to send a dead guy to mars, let alone anyone who thinks they'll survive...

you need to worry about getting into space first, with all your food/supplies/equipment. Then you need a way to get to mars, which isn't some easy ride, but its doable. Don't forget proper planning so you meet mars somewhere in its orbit. You have to land, which is a considerably hard problem with the weight of everything you'll be taking. Oh, did you plan to come back, or just land in a ship and sit there until you die?

what makes you think this is "easy"?

 

[Eraserface]

I've considered all of these things.

How would it be so difficult?

 

[f95toli]

The most diffcult part will be to find the money...
AFAIK no one seriously belives that any single nation will be able to afford a manned trip to Mars, even the preliminary projects that are running right now (propulsion etc) are joint efforts between USA,EU and Russia (I think Japan and Australia are also involved)
My guess is that China will also be involved eventually.

It will probably be a project similar to the International Space Station, but at a much bigger scale.

 

[DrPizza]

Nope. Piece of cake to do it. It'd only take about (50 billion? 100 billion?) Something like that. FAR FAR FAR more money than it takes to send robots. (which is why many in the scientific community rolled their eyes when Bush said he wanted men on the moon and mars) We could send a few dozen robots for the cost of sending one human.)

All you have to do is send a rocket containing enough fuel for the return trip to Mars, and have it land safely on Mars. Of course, since you're looking at well over a year for the round trip, pack plenty of food and plenty of water. Every extra pound you decide to send to Mars means $$$$ for fuel costs and a larger rocket to get it there.

Don't forget, the more you take to mars, the more fuel you'll need to leave Mars. That means more fuel to take. So, an additional 1 pound of food means more fuel. Not only that, but you have to account for the weight of that fuel, so you need fuel just to get that extra fuel off the ground. I suppose you could get fancy and have the food and water for the return trip from mars just stay in orbit around mars. That'll save you a lot of fuel for getting it back off the surface of Mars. Plus, add in the mass of the x-box and lcd screen that you'll have to take (so you don't get bored on the trip). You will, of course, recycle urine and use a dehumidifier to recycle as much water as possible. Oh, don't forget about oxygen to breath!

Robots: no return trip, no food, no water, no x-box, no deck of cards, no oxygen, and no secret stash of porn magazines are necessary. Robots are the way to go. The only argument might be, "what if the robot breaks? or malfunctions?" Well, if the mission is that important, send a dozen of them and still save money. Besides, what's a human going to do - get out their arc welder to fix some broken equipment?

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

You also have to get the guy through the boatloads of radiation out in space. Not to mention keeping him from going insane from being in a sardine can flying through near-nothingness for months or years.

 

[buleyb]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
You also have to get the guy through the boatloads of radiation out in space. Not to mention keeping him from going insane from being in a sardine can flying through near-nothingness for months or years.

and don't forget the muscle loss problem, when some civilian jackass did make it back, he'd be a mess in our gravity

 

[eigen]

The money would be better spent on researching better propulsion methods. None of the arguemnets above really work if you can get to mars in 5 days.

 

[buleyb]

if you can get to mars in 5 days, I'd hate to think what kinds of G-Forces are effecting the crew. Big burst of speed is a problem, and even a more constant speed increase will create a lot of force. The Catch all, you have to start slowing down early too, or you'll cause the same issue as leaving.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: buleyb
if you can get to mars in 5 days, I'd hate to think what kinds of G-Forces are effecting the crew. Big burst of speed is a problem, and even a more constant speed increase will create a lot of force. The Catch all, you have to start slowing down early too, or you'll cause the same issue as leaving.

The issue of slowing down may or may not be as big a factor as you may think. In the case of the recent mars landings, Mars was actually moving faster than the vehicles. An analogy is we timed it just right to push a wheelchair in front of a speeding bus. (Although, a 5 day trip would require significant slowing.)

 

[Eraserface]

Food would need to be grown, a solar sail or electric rocket engine would save money, hibernation to conserve energy.

 

[glugglug]

It may be easier to send 2 people rather than 1. One of the crew members acts as a food source.