Science Apollo Era Manned Trip to Venus and Mars

[Mandella]

Ars Technica ran an interesting article on a proof-of-concept study done by Bellcomm using the Apollo stack (modified, of course) as a means to send a manned vessel to Venus and/or Mars.

Certainly old news, but I hadn't seen this particular study before, and some nice diagrams are included for those who like to model...

:thumbup:

 

[JonnyBGoode]

IIRC, there used to be an Apollo Earth-to-Mars and Earth-to-Venus add-on. Don't know if it still is out there (and works) or not.

---------- Post added at 06:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:34 PM ----------

A few years back I tried an Apollo to Venus trip (using AMSO, I think). I calculated I'd have just enough fuel to get there, it was a one-way trip. For some reason, the idea of a slingshot return to Earth didn't occur to me. :facepalm:

 

[fsci123]

Oh the world that couldve been...:facepalm:

I would think that they wouldve ran into problems supplying food and air in one spacecraft for the whole 400 day journey. Is there any data on how large the craft couldve been?

 

[Hlynkacg]

The ApolloEx command module and Interplanetary SIV-b are on my to-do list

 

[IronRain]

IIRC, there used to be an Apollo Earth-to-Mars and Earth-to-Venus add-on. Don't know if it still is out there (and works) or not.

Maybe you mean this one: [ame="http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3393"]Baxter's Voyage beta[/ame]

 

[769270865]

I heard a guy new to orbiter get the Apollo to Mars

 

[Mandella]

Oh the world that couldve been...:facepalm:

I would think that they wouldve ran into problems supplying food and air in one spacecraft for the whole 400 day journey. Is there any data on how large the craft couldve been?

You should go read the article..



But yes, the whole habitable stack would have consisted of a Saturn SIV-b stage (the same stage used as the basis for Skylab) and the Apollo command module. Interestingly, and unlike Skylab, the SIV-b would have been used as part of the ascent stack, and would have been converted to a hab module in flight.

Water and air would have been recycled, food freeze dried and stored. According to the proof-of-concept, it would all fit into those two modules with plenty of room left over for radiation shielding, stationary exercise bike, and all the other comforts of home...

 

[N_Molson]

According to the proof-of-concept, it would all fit into those two modules with plenty of room left over for radiation shielding

Sure, but it seems that radiation emitted by the Sun is worse than what was originally thought. It probably gets even nastier as you close from the star.

 

[Mandella]

Sure, but it seems that radiation emitted by the Sun is worse than what was originally thought. It probably gets even nastier as you close from the star.

The initial proposed flight window would have been during a solar minimum. And though I couldn't really tell from the published schematics, I imagine the plan would have been to have one relatively thick disk of shielding that would be oriented toward the sun during a flare. The astronauts would basically huddle in it's shadow for the hours the flare's high energy particles were striking.

Still, it would certainly have been a risk.