I want to make an inforgraphic about human mars missions!

[ScallopPotato]

The proposed ones, of course.

I feel that a lot of people don't know what exactly is required for a human mars mission - how much it costs, what the spacecraft(s) look like, what is done while on Mars, etc. Even I didn't really know what was required for the crew transits until I started playing KSP and then found out about all the NASA DRMs and such. I was already a proponent of sending humans to Mars, but having a better idea of what exactly is required made me even more confident in our ability to go and made me feel empowered as a citizen. I think there's this idea that a human mars mission would cost a trillion dollars or something outrageous like that, while that can't be farther from the truth.

So what I'm thinking about is making a big poster or picture laying out the various proposed mars missions and their craft, showing how the mission profiles have evolved over time. This is what gave the idea to make this. Generally, the old 60s era proposals required more tons in LEO and shorter stays on mars, while newer missions have less tonnage and longer stays at mars. Price goes down, science goes up. More bang for your buck.

I would recreate the ships in KSP (with mods of course) and show them in the LEO configurations before departing for Mars. The ships can be shown photogenically lined up next to each other to give a sense of scale and whatnot. Below is information about the various proposals, their mission profiles, costs, etc. I especially want to have a "cost per citizen" figure, because it makes it personal for us. "this is how much you'd pay over the time of the project".

Any thoughts/suggestions?

[Chris P. Bacon]

I think this is a great idea.. was always a fan of some of the xkcd charts that really put subjects into perspective.

It might make it easier to show people how within reach, financially, one of these $80-100 billion dollar missions is.. especially when you throw the numbers up next to something like a $1.5 Trillion fighter jet program that we seem to have no problem coughing up the tax dollars for.

Besides, I'd love a side-by-side poster of mars craft up on my wall

[FleshJeb]

Very cool idea!

BTW, I can't view the image (403 Forbidden).

[andrewas]

Its in the atomic rockets image gallery, 7th image in William Black's section.

[Dkmdlb]

Acquaint yourself with these documents:

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/373665main_NASA-SP-2009-566.pdf

http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph241/wendorff1/docs/aiaa-2009-5308.pdf

[Nicholander]

One. YYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!! This is an awesome idea! Do it! DO IT! NOW!!!!!

Two. I can't see the image. 403. =(.

Three. Here's a random obscure Soviet proposal for a manned mission to Mars. In 1956. http://www.astronautix.com/craft/mpk.htm

Four. For the pre-Mars-departure picture in KSP that you'll put, are you going to do it in RSS? You should.

Edited July 23, 2014 by Nicholander
Added the Four thing.

[ScallopPotato]

I do want to make this into a poster-like form. I love the idea of having them in the science classroom of a school, showing school kids how to get to Mars and back.

Acquaint yourself with these documents:

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/373665main_NASA-SP-2009-566.pdf

http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph241/wendorff1/docs/aiaa-2009-5308.pdf

Already read them both, plus a lot of other studies on mars missions.

Nicholander: Yes, I will be using RSS. And EVE.

Also, because of the 403 error, here's a link to the art gallery, under William Blake.

I know I will be using tweak scale a lot (thank goodness for that mod), procedural fuel tanks, plus whatever other part mods required. I know the Near Future mod has trusses and tanks based on the Copernicus CTV, plus solar and ion engines for the latest SEP proposal by Boeing.

[Nicholander]

Any updates or how your progress is?

[vger]

Maybe you're doing this from a world perspective, but another infographic that would be interesting would be a handful of the ridiculous and pointless things that exist in government budgets, compared to how much their space programs currently get.

[Nicholander]

LOL, good idea vger! Though ScallopPotato should finish the Mars one, of course.