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On December 5th 2014, a Delta IV heavy rocket thundered into the skies above Cape Canaveral, carrying a prototype of NASA's new Orion spacecraft. The mission was a success, but behind the awe of the launch, NASA was in shambles: It was building a capsule with no intended use, and a rocket to launch it to nowhere! During this period, it was doubted if the Space Launch System would ever even fly, lest do anything of note. However, this was anything but a sign of things to come - In late 2017, the leftover elements of past programs such as Constellation and the Asteroid Redirect missions, were collated and reformed under a unified program, one which gave a goal and a future to Orion and SLS, one which would achieve NASA's 50 year objective of returning Humans to the Moon. It's name? The Project In this Project, me and @Jacktical are aiming to recreate all the past present and future Artemis missions, Including: - NASA launches - Commercial partner launches - International partner launches - And more We are hoping to keep this semi-realistic, with the initial Artemis missions playing out as is currently planned by NASA, with later missions coming (hopefully) our own interpretations and hopes for the future of Human Spaceflight Posts should be regular enough, but we aren't gonna make a strict schedule for it It's time to return to the Moon! NEXT LAUNCH: CAPSTONE

April 7th, 1974 They'd done it. The Soviets had landed a man on the Moon, and returned him safely to the Earth. His name: Alexei Leonov. After Apollo 17 returned to Earth in 1972, the world thought the space race was over. America had been to the Moon nine times, and landed 12 men there, and the Soviets weren't even close to orbiting it. Yet, on that fateful morning, the Soviets put themselves back into the space race. Any doubts that congress had about NASA immediately vanished, and president Richard Nixon immediately ordered a renewal of the American space program. The Apollo Applications program (AAP) was re-opened, and a new program was created for the revived space race: Apollo-Mars. There were three goals for Apollo-Mars: Establish a long term presence and begin the expansion of Skylab, create a long-term lunar presence with a space station and surface base with a re-usable lander, and as the most ambitious goal of the program, land a man on Mars in the early 1980s. Just as President Kennedy had set the goal for the U.S. to land on the Moon 13 years ago, America had set another ambitous goal. And so, the new race was on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To celebrate one year of foruming, I have decided to redo my very first mission report, Apollo-Mars! This time it will have a more in depth story to it, as well show what the Soviets are up too. Did anybody ask for this? No. But I'm doing this anyways. With the knowledge I've gained from other mission reports, this will be 10,000 times better than the old thread. So enjoy!

Potential Game-Changer for Generating Propellant on Mars. https://https://exoscientist.blogspot.com/2023/07/potential-game-changer-for-generating.html Rather than needing football fields of solar cells to generate propellant, by instead collecting free O2 and CO in Mars atmosphere the process can actually *generate* power. If the gas separation of O2 and CO out of the CO2 of the Martian atmosphere can be done at low energy, it is possible it could even be done at sufficiently low cost to profitably ship the hydrogen to Earth. Robert Clark

Hi there! I've visited the Moon and Mars in RSS/RO. Tell me how was the video:) Also please subscribe to my channel for more videos

In 1972, after Apollo 17 returned from the Moon, America thought they had the space race in the bag. But, in 1974, just 2 years later, the soviets landed their first Man on the Moon. A total of three soviet moon missions were held, the other two in 1975 and 1976. The Americans knew they'd have to put the USSR in their place in space. If the Moon wasn't enough, then they had to do the next best thing. On March 11th, 1977, during Carter's state of the union address, he announced Apollo Mars. The goal: Put a man on Mars in the early 1980s, and return him back to the Earth. Out of fear that the soviets were already getting ready to put a man on Mars, the United States had to get ready and fast. In 5 Months they built 6 Ares rockets, which would carry the crew module all the way the orbiting habitat. Ares Rocket The Ares Flight Test (AFT) Missions will be orbital tests of the Ares Rocket. AFT 1 will be an unmanned orbital test of the spacecraft, AFT 2 Will be a manned orbital test of the spacecraft, and AFT 3&4 will be an orbital rendezvous test, to test the docking systems of the spacecraft. If all goes well, it'll be used to launch the first people to Mars. AFT 1: UNMANNED ORBITAL TEST AFT 1 was rolled out onto the launch pad on June 5th, 1977. Just 3 hours later, it was fully fueled and ready to launch. AFT 1 on the pad. Liftoff! AFT 1 past the karman (kerman lol) line, with the Moon in the background. AFT 1 in orbit. On re-entry. Parachutes deployed for a safe splashdown. AFT 2: MANNED ORBITAL TEST On June 18th, 1977, AFT 2 is ready and waiting for launch. All it needs now is the crew. Let's get to know them, shall we? Albert Millet: Navy Test Pilot; has been flying for 10 years now; Enjoys: Flying & Baseball Games Joshua Lambkin: Air Force Test Pilot; has been flying for 6 years; Enjoys: Refuses to say Dick Ednar: Navy Sailor; has been with navy for 9 years; Enjoys: Dancing late at night and not telling anyone. \ Commander A. Millet front; Pilot J. Lambkin right; Module pilot D. Ednar left Crew on the walkway. AFT 2 on the launch pad. Liftoff! The crew reports that everything seem nominal. AFT 2 almost in orbit. AFT 2 in orbit. Albert Millet preforming an EVA. "OW! My eyes!" - A. Millet AFT 2 on re-entry. Drogue chutes deployed. Main chutes deployed. Splashdown! After 4 orbits of the Earth, AFT 2 returns back to the surface. AFT 3 & 4: ORBITAL RENDEZVOUS TEST On July 10th, 1977, both AFT 3&4 are rolled out to the Launchpad and Launch Complex 39b. The flight's goal is to dock two of the Ares modules together in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to practice the maneuvers necessary to dock with the main habitat, due to be launched next year. AFT 3 Crew: Brian O'Neill: Marine Core Pilot; Has been flying for 18 years; Enjoys: chaos, bloodshed, and kittens. Trace Chadsey: MIT Graduate; Has doctorate in engineering; Enjoys: Soft Rock Wayne Deely: Navy Pilot; Has been flying for 5 years; Enjoys: Stuff AFT 4 Crew: Mark Coyle: Air Force Pilot; Has been flying for 10 years; Enjoys: Piloting Roman Bene: Air Force Pilot; Has adequate training, still has yet to fly a plane; Enjoys: ice cold water & dad jokes John Gabriels: Drexel Graduate; Has doctorate in engineering; Enjoys: None of your business AFT 3 Commander Brian O'Neill (front); Docking Specialist Chase Chadsey (right); Pilot Wayne Deely (left) Liftoff! Brian O'Neill claims launch isn't as bad as people say it is. A round 200km Earth Orbit is achieved. AFT 4 AFT 4 at launch complex 39b. AFT 4 in LEO. AFT 3&4 docked together in orbit. "Finally, neighbors! It was getting quite lonely in this neighborhood." -B. O'Neill Touchdown of both AFT 3&4. With the conclusion of both the missions AFT 3&4, NASA has finally proven that the Ares vehicle is a very capable vehicle. Next the element of the program to be launched will be the Mars lander, in 1978. While the AFT program has been going on, various tests of the mars lander have been going on. At this pace, we're already on track for the first humans to set foot on Mars in 1981.

"Rewriting History" Intro to series: Rewriting History is a series that I've been working on for the past few months, posting mostly on my instagram account and posting highlights on twitter, however a few twitter users inspired me to take my series here, the main focus of this thread is to cover all the major events and/or launches from the begining in 1966 to the current point in 1984. The premise of the series is that the first manned Lunar landing happens in 1966 with Apollo 8 instead of Apollo 11, the public interest for spaceflight grows even after the first few mission to the moon. After, what was supposed to be the vietnam war, doesn't happen, in 1969 NASA budget sees a huge increase and continues to rise through the years, as the world begins to focus more on spaceflight over military conflicts money get poured into space agencies all around the world. This series still is in full swing and should continue for quite a while, as I haven't reached Mars yet... I will be redoing most of the mission from 1966 to 1979 and the rest of them will come from my Instagram account untill I catch up to 1984 on here.... I've taken inspiration from quite a few different sources for this series. These include: @Talverd with his chasing dreams alternative history TruthfulGnome l with the skylab alt history Eyes turned skyward and Boldly Going Mission list as of 1984 Mod list:

Welcome to my first series, Ares program which mainly focuses on Post-Apollo missions Part I: Introduction and Development After the success of Apollo moon program, by 1973 plans were underway for More Apollo-related missions, with the introduction of Saturn MLV Launch vehicles, which allowed for more payload to LEO By 1976, work started on a new and improved Apollo CSM specifically designed for interplanetary missions - Using the leftover CSMs for Apollo 18- onwards, and some upgrades like an orbital module for the crew, and replacing the AJ10-137 with 2 TR-201 LM descent engines for SPS In 1977, the main contractors for Saturn program decided to begin developing a nuclear stage for interplanetary operations; they looked at the existing hardware like S-IVB stages and they looked at a provider for nuclear engines, They found TIMBERWIND, specifically TIMBERWIND 75 variant because it has a better thrust and exhaust velocity than the existing NERVA because of the usage of a particle-bed reactor By mid-78, NASA searched for a crew module that was suitable for interplanetary missions, they looked at the then-cancelled Venus flyby proposal, so the program was relived in a small form By early-79 The main transfer stage was already built and in mid-79 the habitation module was already built- They were scheduled for shipping to Cape Canaveral in December of 1979 The mission plan was to send a transfer stage into LEO, while it waits there for the habitation module to launch later and finally the 5-crew Apollo CSM to rendezvous with it Mars Transfer window starts at May of 1980 and ends in August

Could lichen and moss survive on Mars? I will mainly use moss, because i like it better. I suppose they could, if they were provided ample amounts of oxygen. Using a system called MMOWS*, you could make small amounts of oxygen, and release it under it. I assume that the moss could trap the oxygen, and keep it alive. It would probably be one of the experiments carried on a manned mars mission. It could hypothetically be used as food, but I believe that wouldn't be the best idea, as some harmful chemicals from the soil might have leeched into it. You would also need to water it, but you could put that through the same oxygen supplying network. Alternatively, they could be made chemosynthetic**, and dumped on some mineral deposit. This probably wouldn't work very well, as I believe that the lack of oxygen in the atmosphere would harm the plant. Being both photosynthetic and chemosynthetic could be beneficial though. I am certainly not a expert on any of this, so please tell me if I am wrong.

Someone please share the craft file for replica of the Perseverance rovar for KSP 1.9 with DLCs

For a college "Exploration of Space Environment" project, (my partner and) I need to discuss the potential tradeoffs of picking a particular landing site on Mars. More specifically: What will we gain AND have to sacrifice from landing at this specific site. For example, when it comes to landing along Mars' equator vs on one of its polar ice caps (yes, I have to specify which one), I'll have to consider: Carrying my own water (and, therefore, more weight) vs converting the ice underneath I'll still have to carry a backup supply, but an ice cap landing and utilization can lessen the amount I need to save specifically for the outpost Keeping the return vehicle at an equatorial (or even inclined) orbit vs having to set a polar orbit. As we all know, we save fuel if we launch our ascent vehicles in the same orbital plane as our target. Regional temperature Will determine how the base will be heated. (For the stock game, I don't know anything about life support mods) KSP fails to address supporting kerbals in environments with low temperatures like those on Mars. Sunlight (and radiation) exposure More radiation protection = more weight = less delta-V More sunlight = more solar power Seismic activity A region with lower seismic activity is preferable Dust storm frequency My partner and I know that it won't tip over whatever ascent vehicle we bring, but dust storms can still cause serious problems such as: Getting inside computers Blocking solar panels I know I'm simply asking for help on a college term paper (whose due date is probably extended due to the coronavirus), but this is also a great opportunity for us to discuss where we would start a Martian base. Feel free to offer your input on where we should put a base, and why. After all, the entire mission plan (base design, approach and departure strategy, surface ops) depends on it. But be aware that, whatever landing spot we decide upon, we'll be sacrificing the advantages offered by other locations. We'll also have to design our base to compensate for lost advantages. Which would ultimately determine how the entire mission would be conducted. That's what engineering is about, exploring the gives-and-takes of our mission decisions. We basically explore this concept every day in KSP, too. adding fuel tanks will mean more delta-V, but also more weight to haul to LKO using a lander engine with higher thrust may mean giving up delta-V Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thank you. P.S. Source links would be nice. I don't think my partner (let alone my professor) would want me to cite a forum post in the reference page.

This is a crewed mission to Mars, that I have worked on for almost a year. I used (and still use) KSP version 1.2.2 with Real Solar System, Realism Overhaul and Realistic Progression 0 mods (RP-0, not to be confused with the newer RP-1). The reason why I still use KSP 1.2.2 is because of my 4 year old RP-0 career save (created in January 2016) that is in the very advanced stage of progression. The year in that save is 2029 as of typing this post. It wasn't possible to transfer that save to KSP 1.3.1, because the evolution of RP-0 (called RP-1) that was released for KSP 1.3.1 changed too many things for my old save to be compatible. My long running RP-0 save is also the reason why completing my Mars mission took so long. It's not a 'single mission' save, there are many other missions in progress simultaneously, that need to be attended to from time to time (probe course corrections, moon/planet flybys, station crew rotations etc). More detail about my Mars mission and vehicles that took part in it, can be found here: https://imgur.com/gallery/6J8m9Iz - Mars Cargo Landers launches https://imgur.com/gallery/ArUGAnf - MTV assembly https://imgur.com/gallery/jfTB9sp - Departure to Mars https://imgur.com/gallery/DQkeCoQ - Arrival on Mars https://imgur.com/gallery/A965gZw - Departure from Mars

Introduction: In 2010 the Constellation program was cancelled with the only things to show for it was a prototype of the Ares I launch vehicle and a semi developed crew capsule, the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. The program had a quite a bit of lofty goals, having to develop new large launch vehicles using the knowlege gained from the Shuttle and Apollo programs as well as creating new crew exploration vehicles that could be used for LEO, the Moon and eventually Mars. It became an extremely costly effort leading to it's eventual demise. Thanks to KSP and a variety of totally rad mods from around the community, here is a somewhat Kerbalized set of events if the Constellation program continued into the next decade and beyond. Mods and stuff:

Here's a video i made of my manned mission to mars and its two moons i did recently it took 3 days to do.

Since in Mars' thin atmosphere hydrogen or helium just aren't gonna cut it, do you reckon airships using a vacuum for lift would be any good for Mars exploration? Considering that with electric propellers and solar power an airship would have practically infinite range, travelling at a much higher speed than any groundbound vehicle could, I think it would be excellent. I'd like to hear your opinions though Note: I certainly didn't come up with this idea, I just read it somewhere. There's a NASA article on this actually, have a look.

One thing that has always bugged me in discussions about colonizing the moon or Mars is the casual way everyone overlooks the growing of food. I have a fairly well rounded background in agriculture, and I have spent a lot of time learning about the complex symbioses that a lot of plants depend on to survive. I know that NASA has been growing salad greens and some types of wheat in a very small experimental area on the ISS, but I don't think it's enough to get a good picture of what agriculture will look like on space colonies. First of all, any system that has colonists reliant on it for sustenance must be 99% sustainable at a minimum. NASA's experiments have been very closely monitored with sensors giving real-time data on all sorts of parameters to a team back on Earth, and the most they've gotten out of it is a few salads. For a serious system, it has to be somewhat robust, and able to handle some shocks and variation to conditions. It also needs to be able to reprocess all the wastewater produced by the colonists in a safe and efficient manner. These things are very possible to achieve, but they do present some challenges. Growing food is maybe one of the easier ones to handle. The most logical solution, in my mind, is aquaponics. Aquaponics is like hydroponics, but with fish. Turns out that fish poop has pretty much everything plants need to grow, and the plants are great at filtering the water for the fish. This means you only have to figure out how to feed the fish. Initially, formulating food for the fish might require some supplemental nutrients, but over time, it should be possible to stabilize the intake/output of the various micro-nutrients in the system. Probably the best species of fish to use is Blue Nile Tilapia, a fast growing breed used around the world in commercial fish farms. The other challenge to the system is processing the human poop. If composted properly, human waste makes a fantastic fertilizer for plants, but it is illegal to use human waste for growing food crops in the US. This is due to the possibility of spreading disease via unwashed vegetables. This can be avoided in our application, since we aren't growing our plants in soil. We can, however, reduce the possibility of spreading disease by using human waste to grow things like cereal grains and even fruit trees. The cereal grains can be used to formulate food for the fish, as well as for things like bread or beer. Obviously, setting up a self-sufficient system like this will require a large enough population to support it, but the advantages are many. Fore one, you won't have to have carbon scrubbers, since the plants will easily take care of that. Another aspect is the psychological benefits of having green things growing about the base. One of the largest challenges, however, will be maintaining healthy populations of bacteria in the system. Here on Earth, bacteria do a lot of the work in the treatment of wastewater, and in converting waste from both fish and humans into nutrients plants can use. These bacteria are everywhere on Earth, and can be relied on to just show up and start growing where conditions are favorable, but on an off world base, we'll have to bring our own. This could be extremely challenging, due to the high radiation environment in space, and any system on a moon or Mars base will have to be buried deep underground to protect it from radiation. There is also the potential issue of symbiotic organisms that are present here on Earth, that could affect how various plants in the system grow, or don't grow. It is also likely that we will have to introduce some species of insects into the ecosystem to pollinate plants for us. We might also bring earthworms and other species that help decomposition, so we can compost things like food scraps, plant fibers, and solids that settle out of the various wastewater systems. Worms would make great food for the fish, and they are excellent at breaking down fibrous materials. As you can see, the biodiversity of a sustainable life support system is immense and complex, and certainly not possible in a sterile space station. Sure, you could grow only certain plants and feed them with chemical fertilizer, but this would be very difficult to make self-sufficient. Anywho, I'd love to hear other folk's thoughts on the topic, this is just what's been rattling around in my head for a few years now. I'm currently thinking about going to school for engineering and soil science, either as a double major, or minoring in soil science with an engineering major. I've seen little to no discussion of the actual mechanics of "just growing food in greenhouses" and I'm hoping I can kick off a bit of discussion on the topic. I suspect that a lot of the folks into rockets and space travel aren't really into the sustainable farming movement, and vice versa, which might be why the topic is so often dismissed as a triviality or just glossed over by enthusiastic future Martians.

Hey, guys! For the last several months i've been working on my new KSP video. It would be action miniseries of 6 episodes, 20-25 minutes each. Here we go!

Source: Journal of Astrobiology and Space Science Reviews. Looks like legit science article, found it on some other news portal, but can't tell is it true or not. Short summary: they claim, based on photos taken from Oportunity and Curiosity rovers that on some photos could be microbiotic organisms like algae, fungi, lichens or similar. Those are old photos, but was never mentioned on other sources before. Hypothesis is that prokaryotes and eukaryotes may have colonized Mars or it could be that was transfered from Earth. There is oposite opinions from various group of scientists on this topic. Or is it first april joke from scientists. What do you think, is it legit ?

I made a little fan art of mars based on some posters i found, im not sure if this belongs here but i decided to put it here

We build one base station with a few modules, enough to give shelter to 6 astronauts/cosmonauts and enough fuel to fly to Mars and return to Earth. We add the Mars lander to the station. We send the crew in several capsules to dock to the station. When everyone is there, we send the whole to Mars. When the station is in Mars orbit, some of the astronauts go to the lander, and land on Mars, do their job, and those who have been in orbit help in the analysis of the data. After some time they start from Mars, dock to the station, but do not reject the lander. They are waiting for a transfer window to Earth, when they are again in orbit around the earth, they land on Earth in capsules in which they arrived at stations. The transfer vehicle itself and the Martian lander could be refurbished and used multiple times, and maybe even capsules too I think the real scientist probably figured it out a long time ago, but that was my thought when I played Surviving Mars

Welcome to the development thread for Duna Direct! What is it? Extraplanetary lander, habitat and parts pack for Kerbal Space Program - Based on the proposal for Mars Direct by Robert Zubrin and David Baker of Martin Marietta in 1990. Fly the mission! Live the adventure in the custom-made mission Duna Direct: The First Flight! Use of mods requires Module Manager Compatible with the following mods (automatically applied upon mod detection): Module Manager (Required for any other mod compatibility) Near Future Props - Fully furnished interior RCS FX - RCS Flame FX by JadeOfMaar auto-on if Module Manager is present. (Remove patch if dislike) (Special thanks @JadeOfMaar!) Tweakscale - Scaling of all parts B9 Part Switch - Texture swapping on Stage 2 Real Plume - Better engine FX for all engines Breaking Ground (Squad) - Inventory space Near Future Electrical - RTG Decay (thanks @Gordon Dry!) Connected Living Space - Adds passable options Kerbal Inventory System - Adds KIS inventory space RealChute - Changes parachute parameters USI Life Support - Various USI Life Support compatibilities TAC Life Support - Various TAC Life Support compatibilities Kerbalism - Full Kerbalism compatibilities (Special thanks @Sir Mortimer!) Snacks! - Various Snacks! compatibilities Remote Tech - Antenna modifications Confirmed working with the addition of: Cryo Tanks Community Resource Pack 1.10.1 Update Changelog: 1.8.x Update Changelog: Disclaimer: This mod has not been tested with anything other than those listed above or in versions of KSP other than 1.5.1. There is also a lot going on with these parts. Testers have been awesome and I've done everything I can to make it work properly but as usual, if there are any bugs please report them over in the development thread. Thank you! Parts list with 1.8 updates: A very special thank you to all the testers who added valuable feedback and suggestions which led to many improvements over the original goal. Download from Spacedock Installation: Extract the contents of the GameData folder to your GameData folder. Structure should then read GameData\MarsDirect\ Mission is also available from the Steam Workshop Duna Direct is License CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

I've been able to turn most of @silentvelcro's DADV-1 mod (Link to the mod here) into a RO-friendly mod, but it needs serious balancing. I did most of the conversions needed(fuel use,engines,RCS, command pod etc.) But things like tank volume and part mass is quite provvisory. Another great problem is in the aerodynamics themselves : the vehicle should be capable to land on Mars by aerodynamic (so stable pitching without too much RCS use) and propulsive means (6x RL-10 engines). Feel free to edit it if it's needed. Code here: Thank you for your help.

https://www.quora.com/unanswered/I-wonder-what-is-the-reference-system-in-relation-to-the-Martian-landscape-and-more-precisely-the-mountains-on-the-surface-of-this-planet-Mars https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20180511212254AAZg1O2

as above

KSP: 1.2.2 Windows 64bit Problem: Mars entry glitchy. My ship start spining and become uncontrollable after pass 124 000 Km. Mods installed: https://ibb.co/eCHKuR https://ibb.co/jpJg8m https://ibb.co/gZMvZR Reproduction step : Start Mars entry , in any angle it start spining , and become uncontrollable. I've try dozen of ship , with wings , high rcs power. Pod with heatshield are less glitchy. Log : Can't find it sorry Thank you for your time. Ps: Sorry for my bad inglish , i'm French.