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The 2035 Mars Launch Will Have Technology From The 1700's

rhinefire

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Watching a documentary on the Mars launch it was said what will they do if the radiation damages the equipment used to navigate the return trip home. NASA will have one of those things the sailing vessels used by looking at the stars as far back as the 1700's to use as a back up!! That tool was invented in the 1700's. Incredible.
 
Watching a documentary on the Mars launch it was said what will they do if the radiation damages the equipment used to navigate the return trip home. NASA will have one of those things the sailing vessels used by looking at the stars as far back as the 1700's to use as a back up!! That tool was invented in the 1700's. Incredible.

Its called a sextant. It would be a cast iron bitch to get back to home but doable.
 
Its called a sextant. It would be a cast iron bitch to get back to home but doable.

I'm not convinced that it would be doable. If Kerbal Space Program has taught me anything, it's that you can't eyeball orbital intercepts!
 
I'm not convinced that it would be doable. If Kerbal Space Program has taught me anything, it's that you can't eyeball orbital intercepts!

It would take a crap load of time and really accurate multiple measurements. Not easy in the least, but not impossible either.
 
I have said it before, NASA should have NOTHING to do with manned space missions. They should be left to the private sector or the military (if, for some reason, the military wanted/needed to send people to space/Mars).

If Americans are so desperate to put an American on Mars, then they should fund it privately. And if they aren't, then NASA should not go.


And if they do go...bring a lot of potatoes and ketchup...apparently.
 
Watching a documentary on the Mars launch it was said what will they do if the radiation damages the equipment used to navigate the return trip home. NASA will have one of those things the sailing vessels used by looking at the stars as far back as the 1700's to use as a back up!! That tool was invented in the 1700's. Incredible.

You're talking about a sexton:

sexton.jpg

It'll be the best and most accurate tool they could use.
 
I'm not convinced that it would be doable. If Kerbal Space Program has taught me anything, it's that you can't eyeball orbital intercepts!

But you can accurately position and plot.
 
I have said it before, NASA should have NOTHING to do with manned space missions. They should be left to the private sector or the military (if, for some reason, the military wanted/needed to send people to space/Mars).

If Americans are so desperate to put an American on Mars, then they should fund it privately. And if they aren't, then NASA should not go.


And if they do go...bring a lot of potatoes and ketchup...apparently.

Yes, you make sure to point this out anytime space travel is ever mentioned.

SpaceX wouldn't exist today without NASA's 50 years of groundwork. Your world has no US space travel at all.
 
But you can accurately position and plot.

Kindof. But at that distance, how accurately?

A tenth of a degree error has you missing by a distance of about half the earth-moon gap.

You're going to need a crapload of extra fuel for course corrections. And then you need an actual orbital insertion followed by a re-entry.
 
Kindof. But at that distance, how accurately?

A tenth of a degree error has you missing by a distance of about half the earth-moon gap.

You're going to need a crapload of extra fuel for course corrections. And then you need an actual orbital insertion followed by a re-entry.

Hey, stars a great deal far away for us down here too, but I would think that once you've plotted Sol, and used it to set your horizon, the orbit line should be able to be plotted and our position to be relative to constellations.
 
Hey, stars a great deal far away for us down here too, but I would think that once you've plotted Sol, and used it to set your horizon, the orbit line should be able to be plotted and our position to be relative to constellations.

Sure, but we're still talking about human eyes trying to measure angles with a mechanical device. A guy sailing from London to NYC off by two degrees ends up in New Jersey. A guy "sailing" from Mars to Earth off by two degrees misses by two million kilometers. Like almost four hundred times the planet's radius.
 
Sure, but we're still talking about human eyes trying to measure angles with a mechanical device. A guy sailing from London to NYC off by two degrees ends up in New Jersey. A guy "sailing" from Mars to Earth off by two degrees misses by two million kilometers. Like almost four hundred times the planet's radius.

Oh I know that. Just the idea of using a sexton on a space mission is some that Magellan never dreamed of.
 
Oh I know that. Just the idea of using a sexton on a space mission is some that Magellan never dreamed of.

You knew? Damn son, I had to google a trigonometry calculator to do the math with, not to mention the distances from Earth to Mars during the transfer window, and the Earth's radius. You must be a lot smarter than me :D

But yeah, if someone had to navigate back to earth with a centuries-old mechanical invention that'd make for better drama than The Martian.
 
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