In article . com,
Rusty wrote:
NASA has released the ESAS Executive Summary - First Installment, on
Dec. 22...

Some interesting bits of data there, not all of them obvious.

Note, in particular, that in the proposed Mars-mission profile, the
capsule has to go up to meet the MTV (Mars Transfer Vehicle) "in a
circular orbit of 800- to 1200-km altitude". Why so high?!? There's only
one reasonable answer: the MTV uses nuclear propulsion, and must start in
a "nuclear-safe" orbit, high enough that orbital life in the event of a
failure exceeds 10kyr.
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