Deep Space Industries - Mining, Refining, Manufacturing.... no, this isn't Sci Fi

[CamaroSkooter]

I only asked 'cause I wasn't sure that they even dealt in that pesky hard-copy stuff anymore

I know, thread jacked, back to our regularly scheduled posting

What I want to know is, how complex do the algorithm's have to be to get a "Firefly" or "Dragonfly" to land on an asteroid that's moving through space at ridiculously incredible speeds without just pancaking. I mean, the first attempt at a Mars rover pancaked into Mars, and Mars is a MUCH bigger target...

[Brokinarrow]

Originally Posted by CamaroSkooter

I only asked 'cause I wasn't sure that they even dealt in that pesky hard-copy stuff anymore

I know, thread jacked, back to our regularly scheduled posting

What I want to know is, how complex do the algorithm's have to be to get a "Firefly" or "Dragonfly" to land on an asteroid that's moving through space at ridiculously incredible speeds without just pancaking. I mean, the first attempt at a Mars rover pancaked into Mars, and Mars is a MUCH bigger target...

Mars is also so tricky because of how far away it is and the way our orbits only line up once every 2 years. It'll still definitely be plenty tricky to rendezvous with the asteroids, but at least we won't have to worry about heat shielding and gravity and such. And they'll be much closer, so communications won't have such a long delay which should enable fairly quick corrections if needed.

Here, worst case scenario is you miss and the probe won't have enough fuel left to correct it's trajectory. Which is why the cube sats will be handy, nice n cheap so you can just shotgun em out there

[Scalded Dog]

http://mars-one.com/en/mission/mission-and-visionAnd then there's the Mars One program... this fully intends to have humans on Mars, colonizing, building, preparing for further colonization, by 2023. Candidates are being selected from the general public, and those selected will get a one- way ticket to Mars. They are fully aware that they will never return to Earth... never see another tree, bird, Camaro, or Def Leppard concert. The link above is actually rather intriguing...

[Brokinarrow]

Originally Posted by Scalded Dog

http://mars-one.com/en/mission/mission-and-visionAnd then there's the Mars One program... this fully intends to have humans on Mars, colonizing, building, preparing for further colonization, by 2023. Candidates are being selected from the general public, and those selected will get a one- way ticket to Mars. They are fully aware that they will never return to Earth... never see another tree, bird, Camaro, or Def Leppard concert. The link above is actually rather intriguing...

Yeah I've read through their stuff. There IS a disclaimer within the webpage that says lack of funding will obviously cause delays in their posted timeline. My only reservation with them is that they let the public pick the "winners" that go to Mars.... that big of a decision should be based solely off of their ability to get along and their qualifications. That's really my only gripe with their plan though, the rest of it does look to be very well thought out and reminds me a bit of the Red Mars book Will definitely be watching them very closely.