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| Expedition Mars | Buy a book...
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| Author(s): | M. Turner |
| Publisher: | Springer |
| ISBN: | 1852337354 |
| Format: | softback |
| 321pp | |
| Price: | £24.50, $39.95, €39.95 |
| Review Date: | 11 February 2004 |
| Review: | This book looks at the technical challenges involved in the human exploration of Mars: how to get a crew of human explorers there and back safely. The author objectively examines the physics of the expedition, the engineering challenges, and the implications of the results. He begins by looking back at the technical achievements of the past explorations of Apollo, carried by chemical rockets, and von Braun’s Martian dream. Methods of propulsion to Mars using electric or fission thrusters are described in detail. Having got to Mars the return vessel could be left in orbit round Mars, waiting for the return. This means that sufficient propellant has to be stored for the return journey; the alternative is to use indigenous resources to make propellant. Return re-entry could be in a capsule like the Apollo capsules. Having moved from a basic mission to a real mission, the author finally looks at the problems of placing a sufficient mass of material for the mission into Earth orbit, and building a sufficient safety margin for the crew. In case of an emergency, a fully-fuelled return vehicle would need to be put orbit round Mars before a human expedition was launched. There are human hazards on Mars such as radiation, temperature and the zero-g environment. All these factors are discussed and the alternatives described and considered. |