[General Battuta]

By 'actual' we mean 'totally notional right now' ofc

Yeah, pretty much everything at NASA right now is committed to James Webb. They've staked their existence on that project.

Er but the mission proposed in this thread doesn't involve NASA!

[NGTM-1R]

Yeah, but anybody who wants to go to Mars is almost certainly going to want their help at some stage, or access to their data, or borrow their facilities to test something, or the loan of the Vomit Comet. And right now that just isn't going to happen. If Webb fails then the agency dissolving is not an unreasonable scenario.

[Goober5000]

The press release has occurred, and the website is now live:
http://www.inspirationmars.org/

This is pretty cool.  There's a feasibility study and two other PDFs to download, and there is a large amount of technical discussion on the NASASpaceFlight.com forums.  The important thing is that this proposal is more than notional, it has names and dollars behind it.  In particular, Dennis Tito is committed to fully funding development for two years.  Granted, he can't finance the entire project on his own, so more funding will be needed.

[General Battuta]

The fact that they're not trying to land makes this sound like a much more feasible plan.

[swashmebuckle]

Looking at the website, I find it kinda weird that there's so much emphasis put on its being an explicitly American project. Also, why does it have to be one man and one woman? I'm all for space exploration, but it seems like they're taking a "symbolic value first" approach which...I dunno, I'd like to see us do the best science possible as efficiently and effectively as possible. That's more inspiring to me than going out of our way to hit a particular milestone, no matter how cool it is.

[deathfun]

It's to get all the sexism remarks off their backs most likely.

Gay and lesbian couples need not apply

Tito says he's looking for a man and a woman — preferably a married couple beyond childbearing years. Cosmic Log's Alan Boyle says what everyone's thinking: "We're talking about sex in space, folks." Hot, hetero, middle-aged space sex.

Anyway, according to Tito, this is because humanity's first flight to Mars should be represented by both genders, and because when you're that far from home, "you're going to need someone you can hug."

http://io9.com/5987372/everything-we-know-about-dennis-titos-2018-human-mission-to-mars

[Goober5000]

I dunno, I'd like to see us do the best science possible as efficiently and effectively as possible. That's more inspiring to me than going out of our way to hit a particular milestone, no matter how cool it is.

Yeah, but... we already have a nuclear-powered compact car on Mars using a space drill and a dirt oven.

And that's really cool and all, but this would be people flying by Mars.

[The E]

The goal for this mission seems to be more "We can build a spacecraft capable of transporting humans to Mars and back", rather than "Go to Mars and do science there". Of course there's going to be a few things for these people to do once they are in orbit around Mars, but getting there and back without major equipment failure, or major psychological failure, is the important part for now.

Just like the first few missions to the moon were round trips, rather than landings.

[Mongoose]

Just like the first few missions to the moon were round trips, rather than landings.

The big difference there, though, is that those Apollo missions were direct stepping-stones toward a future planned and designed landing.  While the novelty of sending a pair of humans on a round-trip fly-by to Mars is admittedly pretty cool, it leaves me thinking, "Okay...but then what?"

[Luis Dias]

While I understand that this is to (possibly-sorta-maybe) take place five years from now, putting two people in a cramped, hazardous environment for five hundred days is a good way to kill two people.  And on top of that, you have to worry about the actual, external dangers involved in the journey.

I disagree, it's in fact quite an inefficient way to kill two people.

[deathfun]

Just like the first few missions to the moon were round trips, rather than landings.

The big difference there, though, is that those Apollo missions were direct stepping-stones toward a future planned and designed landing.  While the novelty of sending a pair of humans on a round-trip fly-by to Mars is admittedly pretty cool, it leaves me thinking, "Okay...but then what?"

Then we build a bigger ship, larger crew, and an objective to orbit and possible put a lander on the planet itself
This to me seems like a massive data collection using living subjects, and I support that. Afterall, without data, we can't project projects of a further nature accurately. Crawl before you walk, walk before you run, run before you fly and land on a ****ing planet close to two years away from here!

Sidenote: We could see strides in rocket technology between here and 2018 which could reduce the 501 days

[headdie]

those advances would have to be made fairly soon to be viable in the design and build time in the project

[Goober5000]

once they are in orbit around Mars

As a nitpick, they won't go into orbit on this mission.  They'll just fly by.  They'll spend about 10 hours in the vicinity of the planet, though, which is enough time to make some decent observations and take pictures.  They will get as close as 100 miles to the surface.

The big difference there, though, is that those Apollo missions were direct stepping-stones toward a future planned and designed landing.  While the novelty of sending a pair of humans on a round-trip fly-by to Mars is admittedly pretty cool, it leaves me thinking, "Okay...but then what?"

The biggest problem with a Mars mission is just surviving in deep space for the length of time needed to travel there and back again.  There are obstacles of cosmic radiation, solar radiation, equipment durability, crew psychology, and crew health to deal with.  All of these problems have been studied, and solutions have even been demonstrated on Earth or on the ISS, but it's one thing to talk about it and another to actually take the plunge and do it.  It's a lot easier to do something if you know it's been done (or even attempted) before.

Sidenote: We could see strides in rocket technology between here and 2018 which could reduce the 501 days

No, we couldn't.  There hasn't been a major leap forward in the principles of conventional rocket design (i.e. burning kerosene and oxygen, or hydrogen and oxygen) since the sixties.  All of the advances nowadays are in the field of manufacturing efficiency: materials science, integration and testing, supply-chain management, quality improvements, etc. (see SpaceX).  That makes the rocket cheaper, but doesn't make it more powerful.

The only technological advancements which could reduce the travel time are alternative propulsion systems.  We have made some progress in these areas (see ion propulsion, VASIMR) but the technology isn't mature enough to put on a human spacecraft yet.  In any case, something like VASIMR would require a nuclear reactor to generate the 1.21 gigawatts enough power to provide meaningful propulsion for a human mission.

[MP-Ryan]

It's to get all the sexism remarks off their backs most likely.

Gay and lesbian couples need not apply

Tito says he's looking for a man and a woman — preferably a married couple beyond childbearing years. Cosmic Log's Alan Boyle says what everyone's thinking: "We're talking about sex in space, folks." Hot, hetero, middle-aged space sex.

Anyway, according to Tito, this is because humanity's first flight to Mars should be represented by both genders, and because when you're that far from home, "you're going to need someone you can hug."

http://io9.com/5987372/everything-we-know-about-dennis-titos-2018-human-mission-to-mars

Seems to me that they're setting up the first extra-orbital murder in the history of humanity.

I cannot imagine spending 501 days in 24-hour contact and proximity with my wife, and I'm sure the feeling is completely mutual for her.  Yikes.

[FreeSpaceFreak]

Seems to me that they're setting up the first extra-orbital murder in the history of humanity.

I cannot imagine spending 501 days in 24-hour contact and proximity with my wife, and I'm sure the feeling is completely mutual for her.  Yikes.

But would you rather it be a complete stranger, in whose selection you have had no say at all? Sending man and wife seems a reasonable idea to me... But indeed, they better be sure of the stability of their relationship.

[Polpolion]

Seems to me that they're setting up the first extra-orbital murder in the history of humanity.

I cannot imagine spending 501 days in 24-hour contact and proximity with my wife, and I'm sure the feeling is completely mutual for her.  Yikes.

But would you rather it be a complete stranger, in whose selection you have had no say at all? Sending man and wife seems a reasonable idea to me... But indeed, they better be sure of the stability of their relationship.

You'd probably get to know the other people pretty well during training. It's not like they're just gonna go find people at the bus stop 20 minutes before launch.

[deathfun]

"Oh by the way, here's your traveling companion"
"LIKE OMIGOD IT'S SO GREAT TO MEET YOU" - Man
*Woman stares at man* "Dafuq"

And yeah, fair point Goob
Although you misquoted Mongoose with me in that middle section

[Goober5000]

And yeah, fair point Goob
Although you misquoted Mongoose with me in that middle section

So I did.  Thanks for pointing that out; post edited.

Seems to me that they're setting up the first extra-orbital murder in the history of humanity.

I cannot imagine spending 501 days in 24-hour contact and proximity with my wife, and I'm sure the feeling is completely mutual for her.  Yikes.

This is definitely a concern, but I should point out that the husband and wife team of Taber MacCallum and Jane Poynter spent two years locked in Biosphere 2.  (Though they weren't married at the time.)

[deathfun]

I should also point out one is acres in measurement, the other in cubic feet
A rather obvious point, but important nonetheless.

I'd still volunteer for this trip

[BloodEagle]

The real problem?  You can't play DnD with only two people.