FWD: [marssocietynewsletter] Gorshkov: Russian manned Mission to Mars by 2020 is Feasible

Gorshkov: Russian manned Mission to Mars by 2020 is Feasible

Here is the article in russian:
http://www.mk.ru/numbers/2166/article75047.htm

Here is a link of the text of the Mars Society News letter:
http://www.geocities.com/the_wetzels/Mars.txt

The translation is a little weird but from the gist of it I got this:

Initially they are going to use 20 Protons to assemble the Mars Vehicle
in LEO
Its going to be Solar Powered Ion driver, with the intention of it
being reusable
The crew is going to be 4, with what sounds like only 2 doing a surface
visit of only 2-4 weeks!
Says it will take 2 1/2 years, not clear if that is the total mission
flight plan or if its only the Earth to Mars leg, on rereading I think
it means round trip
Of course there is no mention of what the cost will be.

Says the US/NASA is planning on building a spaceport on the Moon and
launching to Mars from there. AFAIK, any talk about Mars in relation
to VSE/ESAS ususally mentions 'testing' elements of the Mars mission on
the Moon, no word on a base or launch facilities. Any talk about the
Mars mission I get the impression its going to me orbital assembly
using the CaLV, to launch the elements.

Of course I'll believe it when I see it.
Opinions anybody?

Just $0.02

Space Cadet

Space Cadet wrote:


Gorshkov: Russian manned Mission to Mars by 2020 is Feasible

Here is the article in russian:
http://www.mk.ru/numbers/2166/article75047.htm

Here is a link of the text of the Mars Society News letter:
http://www.geocities.com/the_wetzels/Mars.txt

My 2c worth: the Mars Society is so desperate to prove their cause that
they paint MK - Russian version of the National Inquirer as a reliable
source of information which it is not!

2 more cents on reading Russian publications (including translated ones):
if you hear a Russian say: "we are planning to do this in three years (or
more)" you have to translate it as: "we are not currently planning any of
this although it sounds cool"

My 4c ;-)

D~


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"air-space.us" wrote in message
m...

2 more cents on reading Russian publications (including translated ones):
if you hear a Russian say: "we are planning to do this in three years (or
more)" you have to translate it as: "we are not currently planning any of
this although it sounds cool"

Or alternately, "If somebody walks up and hands us a big mound of cash, this
is what we could do with it."

--


Regards,
Mike Combs
----------------------------------------------------------------------
By all that you hold dear on this good Earth
I bid you stand, Men of the West!
Aragorn

Neither of you have been paying attention to Russian. Kilper is a real
design for a spacecraft which is further away than three years and oil
money has made Russian as a government a bit less than poor.

I've been paying attention. Kliper is still a paper study,
the contract hasn't even been let yet, and the three-way
bidding for it won't be decided until the end of this year --
depending on the promise of European and Japanese
money. The rest is spin and bluster.

wrote ..
Neither of you have been paying attention to Russian. Kilper is a real
design for a spacecraft which is further away than three years and oil
money has made Russian as a government a bit less than poor.

2 more cents on reading Russian publications (including translated ones):
if you hear a Russian say: "we are planning to do this in three years (or
more)" you have to translate it as: "we are not currently planning any of
this although it sounds cool"

Well said. I'd say the same about Americans (and probably people
world-wide, I suppose, although I couldn't point to as many examples
elsewhere).

Yeah I would tend to agree with you, Jim. You're the expert not I.

But when D~ said if the Russian say something is more than three years
down the road it isn't really happening...

Well, the Kliper is only paper right now, but seems a very likely
spacecraft to be built past three years.

And Mike claimed Russians have no money and this is simply wrong as far
as the government and it's oil and gas reserves are concerned.

wrote:
: Neither of you have been paying attention to Russian. Kilper is a real
: design for a spacecraft which is further away than three years and oil
: money has made Russian as a government a bit less than poor.

Sounds like more vodka and women for the ranking officals rather than a
new type of spacecraft.

Eric

wrote in message
oups.com...

And Mike claimed Russians have no money and this is simply wrong as far
as the government and it's oil and gas reserves are concerned.

I don't think I was claiming that the Russians have /no/ money, simply that
their space program doesn't have enough money to do everything they'd like
to do, as indeed our space program hasn't had. Even before the current
initiative, NASA sent out all kinds of proposals for all kinds of trips to
Mars and bases on the moon, and the like. None of it was, "Here's what's on
our schedule," it was, "If you give us a lot more money, here's what we'll
do with it". And we have always been a wealthy country.

--


Regards,
Mike Combs
----------------------------------------------------------------------
By all that you hold dear on this good Earth
I bid you stand, Men of the West!
Aragorn

Well, if that is your argument I agree. Russian has a similar problem
with it's program as we have. It's a proteges thing and really isn't
producing anything worth the investment right now.

A possible return to the Moon isn't that inspiring to the younger tax
payers here in the USA.