Russia plans Mars nuclear station

If they found a decent way to make it a joint international project it would be infinitely more likely to succeed. It wouldn't work, though, because political and bureaucratic shit would eat it up.

Just imagine where we could be now if people wouldn't use people dying as an excuse to NEVER ATTEMPT IT AGAIN.

Zarcyb said:

You know that the Russian space programme has produced many more important things than the US one? First man in space to name one. And don't tell me that the USA haven't had their fair share of accidents too. You have to admit, the idea behind Mir was/is cool. Gotta give the Russians some respect.

Zarcyb said:

I'd like to see you build a space station. Or a nuclear power plant. I think it's funny how you think that your country is the best, YOU WENT TO THE MOON WOW!!! That was 30 years ago, now what else have you done

Do you ever actually add anything to the conversations around here or is it that you just like to step in here and there and cut down people's opinions without actually putting anything into the topic?


On topic, however, I say no matter what country it is, screw space. We have enough problems here on Earth that have yet to be dealt with, and space should be the last thing that any government should be spending their funding on.

Melfice said:

On topic, however, I say no matter what country it is, screw space. We have enough problems here on Earth that have yet to be dealt with, and space should be the last thing that any government should be spending their funding on.

You're forgetting that there are many satellites in orbit, which are extremely important for humankind. TV, phones, weather forecast, scientific research, GPS, military intelligence; all dependant on satellites.

Ah, I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear. I meant we shouldn't really worry about going further than we have right now. What you say is true, we very well need the satelites and things we have that are around the earth. But IMO we don't need bases on Mars unless they're for something for the good of mankind, and that's definitely not uncluding Nuclear Stations.

Melfice said:

On topic, however, I say no matter what country it is, screw space. We have enough problems here on Earth that have yet to be dealt with, and space should be the last thing that any government should be spending their funding on.

Screw space? Yes we do have a lot of problems here on Earth, which is why we need to be looking for alternatives - one day the Earth is going to be gone and we need to make sure that we can get off this damn rock and find somewhere else to live.

SEE I ADDED SOMETHING TO THE CONVERSATION!!!

I'm just pickin on ya zarcyb ;) And yes, you do bring up a good point about the downward spiral that Earth is on. Well, I'm done arguing here :P

Given time, money and raw materials, the Russians could certainly get to mars.

Nah. Mars is a huge freaking problem. It's much dfferent than going to the Moon. Right off the bat, it's about a year and a quarter each way, if I remember correctly. Assuming a 6 month mission (and it'd pretty much have to so Mars could get close to Earth again), that would mean a three year trip. At least two years total travel time. We barely got our boys back from the Moon, and that's only a few days.

Now, the Moon is basically just a mathematical problem, but that's because you don't spend much time in space. When a person spends long periods of time in zero-g, his or her body starts acting funny. It starts expelling calcium, meaning your bones will get very weak. You'd also need a rigorous exercise program to keep your muscles form partially atrophying. Then there's the radiaiton that would be encountered. We think we have a handle on it, but no one's ever spent a long, long period of time in space. And since it's a shuttle, it can't have the amount of shielding a space station has. The long trip would impose heavy boredom on the astronaut(s). Plus there's the logistics of the fuel, food, and electricity. Once you finally got to Mars, you'd have to be able to avoid sandstorms, and if a solar flare started bombarding radiaiton while you were on the surface, you'd be screwed.

It's highly dountful that even the US could make the trip, let alone Russia. Going into space is like building up a house of cards; all it takes is one thing to go wrong for the whole thing to come tumbling down. And with the length and dangers of a Mars trip, it would be flat out lucky to make it to Mars; to make it back would be a miracle. As far as I know, we've been lucky enough never to have an astronaut die out in space; let's keep it that way.

Grimm said:

even the US

You mean even the US's MONEY.

Grimm said:

Yes, and sending a person into orbit is much more worthwhile.

Sending someone to the moon requires a ship that can land as well as take off after landing, which requires more fuel and a different design. You also spend less time flying to the moon. It's a lot easier and cheaper to orbit the planet.

You mean even the US's MONEY.

And its technology. By the way, I'm glad out of that entire pseudo-essay, you picked that to debate on. :P

Heh, worthwhile, Nanami. No shit Moon trips cost more. But seding someone into orbit and sending someone to the Moon are equally worthless, in the big scheme of things.

Well if you have to randomly throw people into space might as well take the cheaper route.

Heh, true. :)

Dammit, my theory fails it. I didn't take into account the fact that barons and cacos have different-colored blood. I suppose it may be possible for the barons and cacos to survive the disaster, but... wait a minute, they still breathe air. If they have blood, that seems to indicate to me that they breathe something, anyways. And regardless of what they breathe, and whether or not the Martian atmosphere has it, it's too thin, so thet would still suffocate. Heh, actually, I think a caco would go pop because of pressure differences. Wouldn't that be a sight? Exploding cacos.

Grimm said:

I'm glad out of that entire pseudo-essay, you picked that to debate on.

I can't have people saying "US, US, he's our man, if he can't do it no one can." I agreed about the problems with prolonged exposure to space and the inhospitability of Mars, though.

iirc its a 6 month trip to mars.

Grimm said:

The long trip would impose heavy boredom on the astronaut(s).

Leading to...

SPACE MADNESS

the_Danarchist said:

SPACE MADNESS

They'll resort to amateur boxing, no big deal.

Now I think somebody has to do a Mars Nuclear Station map... I might, actually. I'm gonna have to do some custom textures with Cyrillic text or whatever... have to ask the resident Russians about that one.

Ultraviolet said:

They'll resort to amateur boxing, no big deal.

Now I think somebody has to do a Mars Nuclear Station map... I might, actually. I'm gonna have to do some custom textures with Cyrillic text or whatever... have to ask the resident Russians about that one.

My Doom: Enigma map was supposed to be a nuclear plant, but I had to change it from two cooling towers to one, so the effect was kinda lost.

Grimm said:

Nah. Mars is a huge freaking problem. It's much dfferent than going to the Moon. Right off the bat, it's about a year and a quarter each way, if I remember correctly. Assuming a 6 month mission (and it'd pretty much have to so Mars could get close to Earth again), that would mean a three year trip. At least two years total travel time. We barely got our boys back from the Moon, and that's only a few days.

Now, the Moon is basically just a mathematical problem, but that's because you don't spend much time in space. When a person spends long periods of time in zero-g, his or her body starts acting funny. It starts expelling calcium, meaning your bones will get very weak. You'd also need a rigorous exercise program to keep your muscles form partially atrophying. Then there's the radiaiton that would be encountered. We think we have a handle on it, but no one's ever spent a long, long period of time in space. And since it's a shuttle, it can't have the amount of shielding a space station has. The long trip would impose heavy boredom on the astronaut(s). Plus there's the logistics of the fuel, food, and electricity. Once you finally got to Mars, you'd have to be able to avoid sandstorms, and if a solar flare started bombarding radiaiton while you were on the surface, you'd be screwed.

It's highly dountful that even the US could make the trip, let alone Russia. Going into space is like building up a house of cards; all it takes is one thing to go wrong for the whole thing to come tumbling down. And with the length and dangers of a Mars trip, it would be flat out lucky to make it to Mars; to make it back would be a miracle. As far as I know, we've been lucky enough never to have an astronaut die out in space; let's keep it that way.

Well, you've got some rather good assessments here.

However, Mars is even FURTHER away from Earth than the sun is!

If you figure, the sun is about 92 or 93,000,000 miles away from the earth, and then, Mars is some what, 164,000,000 miles away?

A solar flare is not something I'd worry about on Mars, seeing as if the intense radiometric interference it produces only causes satellites to go goofy for a short amount of time, it wouldn't really do that much worse on Mars.

Remember, our atmosphere does shield us from harmful radiation, but think about other things that influence the way it gets to us? Obviously, earth developed a natural "shield" from harmful space radiation (Gamma radiation in particular) due to strong magnetic force at the beginning of the earth, and Ionization of particles in the atmosphere, which gives the earth's sky a blue tint.

If we had the same kind of life on Mars, and made a breathable atmosphere, chances are that same kind of protective sheen would eventually form over Mars, as well.

Of course, I really do not think Man was meant to go that far, so perhaps things that do not influence the robots will do that to us.

I do believe in religion, myself, and science at the same time. I think if the Good Lord put us on this chunk of rock, we're probably meant to stay here.

Laguna said:

I do believe in religion, myself, and science at the same time. I think if the Good Lord put us on this chunk of rock, we're probably meant to stay here.

I think that if our population is approaching double-digit billions, we are meant to spread out.

Laguna said:

I do believe in religion, myself, and science at the same time. I think if the Good Lord put us on this chunk of rock, we're probably meant to stay here.

And how many times have you read Out of the Silent Planet exactly?

:)

Must... Not... Try... To... Understand... OMG that's the most bizarre logic I've ever heard. It hurts my brain. I'm just going to pretend you didn't say that, Laguna. Where's your sense of adventure, man? Yeah, let's just never do anything new, because obviously God doesn't want us to try something we've never done before. He also doesn't want us to ever attempt anything that's remotely difficult. I mean, think of all the problems that could create. People could come to have faith in themselves, and stop whining to Him with every little problem they have :p.

I think that if our population is approaching double-digit billions, we are meant to spread out.

Heh, yep. If God wanted us to stay here, He would have cut our population down with numerous plagues by now.

Grimm said:

Heh, yep. If God wanted us to stay here, He would have cut our population down with numerous plagues by now.

AIDS? SARS? West Nile? :P

Hopefully one of these days when I'm an old codger of 77 years and on board the Intergalatic Space Vessel Heh, I'll be able to tell all the onboard kids that I was born on Earth.

Ultraviolet said:

AIDS? SARS? West Nile? :P

Er, those really aren't significantly affecting our population. Hell, God doesn't give a darn what we do, at least as far as space travel is concerned. Why would he? It's a little arbitrary, don't you think? Unless... OMG God is an alien, and He doesn't want us to come out into space and find Him. It's one of those "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" things, you know.

I do believe in religion, myself, and science at the same time. I think if the Good Lord put us on this chunk of rock, we're probably meant to stay here.

I think if the Good Lord put us on this chunk of rock and placed numerous stars and planets in the heavens then he/she/it must've wanted us to figure out how to get off our rock and go out to the stars.... Unforunately we seem to be spending all our time burning fossil fuels, waging wars and eating fast food... :p

Doom Dude said:

I think if the Good Lord put us on this chunk of rock and placed numerous stars and planets in the heavens then he/she/it must've wanted us to figure out how to get off our rock and go out to the stars.... Unforunately we seem to be spending all our time burning fossil fuels, waging wars and eating fast food... :p

Well, I'd never want to live on a star, I'd burn to death! Another planet maybe.

BBG said:

Well, I'd never want to live on a star, I'd burn to death! Another planet maybe.

You could get quite a tan on the way...

I'm going to freeze for a thousand years...