Dan
2011-05-26 11:35:23
Dr. Zubrin is very explicit that he doesn’t want a “flags and footprints” mission. In fact, it was one of his biggest gripes about the 90-day plan. Besides taking 30 years and spending $450 Billion to get there, it would only put a man on the the surface of Mars for a few days.
SpaceX is soon to demonstrate the ability to lift 53 tons to LEO for less than $100 million. Three launches would be sufficient for a Mars mission, with no need for orbital assembly.
A Mars mission could probably happen for a billion dollars. That’s still a lot of money, but that’s less than a quarter of what NASA spent on the shuttle in each of 30 years.
