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Copernicus - Nuclear-Thermal Rocket ship to Mars
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Description
This was NASA's plan to send astronauts to Mars, using this large ship to get the crew to mars and back, built in 3 pieces + 1 crew launch, and 2 other, smaller ships one of which would carry the Mars Ascent Vehicle, and the other would be the crew lander and habitat, both ships would use nuclear thermal rockets as well, but without the mid-section seen on the Copernicus.
Yes, exactly what I was talking about - technology is here (or almost here), money is not. Too big ship for private companies.
Very nice and very sad it is just on paper.
It's not too big for private companies at all to be honest.
It's large. Too large for any rocket carrier I guess. Building on orbit will make the cost many times higher.
This would be a great success, but it is obviously not worth the money right now, otherwise it would be already started.
notice the rings between the 3 sections. 3 launches - say, Falcon Heavy - could bring it to orbit at a cost of about 250 million $, which is a fraction of the price of for example, a Shuttle launch. The design is relatively simple. The rear section is a hydrogen fuel tank with 3 NTRs, the midsection is a large strut with jettisonable fuel tank, and the front section is what seems to be a centrifuge, an inflatable crew module, and 2 crew capsules. A single Falcon 9 can bring the crew there with a Dragon capsule.
This is an old NASA concept with the cancelled Constellation (now Orion) command module on the front. If it were spearheaded by SpaceX, it would be much better design I think and would follow more along the lines of the Dragon command module.
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So for the whole mission you need three Falcons? Well, let's say it is true. Now what is the price of one Falcon? Also count with work you need to be done to launch it with it's cargo. And the cost of module?
Ship is too small to establish something, the company would get a nice advertisement, but no way to get those money back. If you are convinced that it is worth it, why don't you ask some company directly what are they waiting for?
7 falcons. You need 7 falcons. But only 3 falcons to get this ship to space.
The other 4 falcons are needed to get the Mars Ascent Vehicle and the Crew lander/Habitat + their engine sections into space.
One Falcon Heavy to LEO is 82 million $, which is quite cheap. SpaceX was founded with the specific goal of sending astronauts to Mars. And as I said: The ship is relatively simple. All the technology exists, it just has to be built.
1. The Mars Rocket will Be built by the Year 01/09/2025 A.D. too! The Space Ship is two Ships in one too! It is Thermal Nucular Rocket Drive too! The Rocket os the Rover Project back in the 1990"s too! On tests runs on the Ground true!!! The Front Section is Landing Mudule Unit too! The Back section is Main Rocket Comand Mudule to get the U.S Austronuts Back to long trip to home back to earth agreed!!!!!!
False.
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