(Josh Gigantino) writes:

Has anyone else here checked out Energia's most recent Mars plans? It
would involve a very large baseblock and solar-electric thrust, and
would place a semi-permanent space station in orbit around Mars.

It wouldn't stay at Mars, it's solar/electric propulsion would be used
to get back to Earth.

I'd say the biggest stumbling block would be the solar arrays (huge)
and electric propulsion system (which would have to be scaled up quite
a bit in thrust). This is ignoring things like commonality with
Mir/ISS systems that are constantly failing (e.g. Elektron).

Their plan can be viewed at Energia Mars Plan. It may look like
vaporware, but remember that Energia, of all companies on the planet,
has the hardware heritage to actually do it.

Not really. While their stations work in LEO, they generally do so
due to availability of supplies and spare parts from Earth which
arrive on a regular basis via Progress flights. Russia has zero
experience with actual manned space missions beyond LEO.

The US manned space experience beyond LEO stopped over 30 years ago.

Jeff
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