Thread winnar.

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Brilliant.

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Wheelhouse

Oh man... imagine the home ice advantage if you played on the moon?

The puck would be all over the place. Hitting would be ridiculous. Skating would be... nearly impossible?

Crazy.

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Wheelhouse

The jet lag would be a bummer.

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

I think what is "significant" is that it will greatly improve our chances of traveling great distances. It's much easier to launch from the moon, as it uses far greater fuel to launch from Earth. Water could not only be launched from the moon(to sustain the pilots), but it could also be converted into fuel. I would guess that Mars just got A LOT closer fast(thanx G.W.). This is exciting.

No wut's please.

Thinking under that methodology (easier to launch from moon vs. Earth) then you'd definitely want a flexible path approach. Makes no sense to launch from Earth, land on the moon, then re-launch from the moon. Fuel depots at L2 would be much more efficient.

If you're talking only in terms of water, it's not going to be that relevant. Any Mars mission is going to have to be able to generate its own water - and it's going to be easier to launch the materials from Earth rather than try and create them on the moon.

This really has no bearing on a manned Mars mission in my mind. Does nothing to help it. It's still going to come down to lack of funding, program cuts, and delays. If we're not developing the technology efficiently, we're not going. And in the current situation we're under, the future isn't looking as bright as we'd hope.

This is NOW debatable. At least open for discussion. Towing ice, and melting could go a long way. Hell, I'm no astronaut, but it's interesting. Remember, with nuclear reactors, you will always have energy. The only issue is the VOLUME of the water. If you could tow an iceberg behind the craft(also known as the huge ice cube that basically follows you after you launch it from the moon), then it's pretty easy. I think??

Right, but it's the mass of the water. It's going to take a lot of propellant to send that much water to Mars.

Not all of the water will be self-generated, but a good portion of it will have to be. The ISS has given us some amount of experience with this. Recovering excess water from the air, urine, etc, will be essential.

Of course it would be a program. The "ice cubes/bergs" would have to be sent up first, and then the mission undertaken. You do realize tomorrow 10 people will have 20 reasons why this won't work. lol.

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