LogFAQs > #979244843

ParanoidObsessive posted...

It'd be way easier without needing to survive the landing.

This was my immediate thought.

Dying on Mars is actually pretty easy - certainly a lot easier than surviving on Mars.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Some of that can be offset if we built a ship in orbit and then launched it from there so you wouldn't need to bring the entire mass of the ship to escape velocity in atmosphere all at once (you'd basically need to ferry all the supplies up to space and launch from there, which would require much less fuel for the outward trip).

Debatable - you still need to ferry all the supplies up to orbit, but now you also need to ferry up the tools and equipment needed to construct the thing as well. Additionally, all construction produces waste - if we build the ship on Earth, the waste stays here, but if we build it in space, we're sending it up to space as well, which requires more energy.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Other problems would involve whether or not we could build a ship sturdy enough to even survive the trip

I don't think that's a pertinent issue. We've built plenty of (unmanned) ships that have not only made it to Mars, but have left our solar system still functional. Putting humans onboard does introduce additional demands on the ship, but it also introduces someone who can conduct repairs, if the damage is straightforward enough to address. In terms of landing on Mars, we built shuttles decades ago that could exit and re-enter Earth's atmosphere, so once again not something unprecedented.

Your biggest challenge would probably be designing a lander that can handle re-entry and landing on a surface that is neither water nor asphalt, while not producing forces that would injure or kill the people onboard. We've landed rovers on Mars before, so it's possible to land *stuff* there, I'm just unclear on whether that could be scaled up to a lander of sufficient size to support human habitation and colonization (if I had to design it, I'd probably make it two different landers: one whose sole job is to transport the humans, and a second to land supplies and materials, as the demands on that lander will be substantially lower than one for living beings).