Mars 6-part series on The Science Channel

[Johnny Rico]

Anybody watching this?

Narrated by our very own William Shatner, it details the trials and tribulations of what it's going to take to get a manned mission to Mars.

And let me tell ya...it ain't gonna be easy.

There isn't a spacecraft in existance today that is capable of getting there and back.

The Russians have their own plan. And the US has their's.

The Russian plan is to build a huge solar array mass with right in the middle, combine updated versions of their current ISS modules, along with new modules to store all the supplies.

The US plan is to build a habitable section out of a couple strung together US-style ISS modules, which is then separated by a mesh framework leading to the propulsion part. But once in space, jet thrusters will fire to get the whole "stack" to rotate like a big propeller to create gravity. The launch vehicles would be the Ares rockets.

In both cases, each vehicle would be assembled in space very similar to how we're building the ISS.

 

[TerriO]

I've been DVRing it, but I haven't had time to sit down with it yet. I'm hoping this weekend I can catch up.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

The Russian and US "plans" are pure speculation... Both countries have numerous plans depending on who they asked among the hundreds of experts there are. Neither are official; and in this case, the US design seen here was used in the companion series "Race to Mars". There's a dozen other ways to get to Mars, each with their own pros and cons.

Mark

 

[CaptainDonovin]

Damn, I'm missing it. That's what I get for being too busy moving. Gonna watch the rest of it though. I swore I heard Nimoy narrating something on the Kama Sutra on the History Channel last night.

 

[Flavius]

Probably interesting. I have to say, though that I have become quite skeptical about this whole Man-On-Mars business.

I doubt that we will ever try in the foreseeable future, and why should we? There's no *natural law* that forces us to visit Mars. And as things are today, we really shouldn't waste our money on this. Build better machines.

And this whole is contra productive as a vision as well, since there's no chance to succeed. Not in a hundred years, probably.

We could work on artificial gravity, better engines, a better spacecraft and a space station with a dockyard instead..

 

[arch101]

I'm seeing a Canadian bent on this series. Lots of mentions of "even Canada" when talking of nations involved in possible missions. Lots of Canadian scientists, Canadian government officials, James Cameron listed as "Canadian filmmaker" and , of course, The Shat (born: Montreal) I was almost surprised that a Canada-only prospect wasn't mentioned.

 

[anti-matter]

I've been watching it and have so far concluded that a manned flight to Mars with current Tech is impossible without lives being lost.

The staging up of supplies and habitats makes the most sense but that depends on all components landing in close proximity...

...and the crew stays awake and at arms length to one another for a 6 month trip? No way!

I like the series so far but more than anything it has convinced me for the need to put more R&D $'s into advanced propulsion systems. If you can't reach mars in 10 days or less...don't go there.

edit to add...

forgot to add that this series is really worth watching.

also suppose you got there safe OK then you have to deal with a real hostile environment winds, solar radiation and meteors. So you need heavy equipment to construct some living space underground to protect life and equiptment.

 

[Outpost4]

I've missed this. For anybody else who has, the first two episodes are being rebroadcast back to back this Sunday, 10/11, in the early evening. Check your local schedules blah, blah, blah.

Episode three is Tuesday night.

I'm going to set the DVR right now.

 

[bryce]

This show, "Mars Rising", is apparently the "companion series" to the docu-drama "Race to Mars" that the Reeves-Stevens(sp?) wrote.

(filmed in the style "Voyage to the Planets")

But I don't see any mention of "Race to Mars" being shown on the Science Channel anytime soon...

 

[bigdaddy]

The Russians can't even make it to the moon nevermind Mars.

 

[Johnny Rico]

Outpost4 said:
I've missed this. For anybody else who has, the first two episodes are being rebroadcast back to back this Sunday, 10/11, in the early evening. Check your local schedules blah, blah, blah.

Episode three is Tuesday night.

I'm going to set the DVR right now.

Hey, thanks...I'll look for them, as I didn't have my DVR set for the last two.

Now I gotta find a few things to delete. Damn that limited HDD space.

 

[Johnny Rico]

HEADS UP... Mars Rising is re-airing first two episodes

The first two episodes of "Mars Rising" are re-airing Sunday at 5pm ET. Episode 2 first, followed by Episode 1.

Set your DVRs...

 

[Starbreaker]

Re: HEADS UP... Mars Rising is re-airing first two episodes

Arrghhh... I miss satellite

 

[M'Sharak]

arch101 said:
I'm seeing a Canadian bent on this series. Lots of mentions of "even Canada" when talking of nations involved in possible missions. Lots of Canadian scientists, Canadian government officials, James Cameron listed as "Canadian filmmaker" and , of course, The Shat (born: Montreal) I was almost surprised that a Canada-only prospect wasn't mentioned.

If you look at the credits, you'll find that it's a Canadian production, made in association with Discovery Channel Canada, so it's only fair that there'd be a few cheers for the home team. There do seem to be people from quite a number of countries involved in its making, though.

 

[Outpost4]

This series is quite good, informative and yet accessible.

It also looks excellent in HDTV.

 

[Johnny Rico]

Outpost4 said:
This series is quite good, informative and yet accessible.

It also looks excellent in HDTV.

Yeah, especially the CG sequences of the ships and stuff.

 

[Johnny Rico]

M´Sharak said:

arch101 said:
I'm seeing a Canadian bent on this series. Lots of mentions of "even Canada" when talking of nations involved in possible missions. Lots of Canadian scientists, Canadian government officials, James Cameron listed as "Canadian filmmaker" and , of course, The Shat (born: Montreal) I was almost surprised that a Canada-only prospect wasn't mentioned.

If you look at the credits, you'll find that it's a Canadian production, made in association with Discovery Channel Canada, so it's only fair that there'd be a few cheers for the home team. There do seem to be people from quite a number of countries involved in its making, though.

Well, that explains it...it was really noticeable in Episode 3 on how big its Canadian bent is. Damn near every "expert" they interviewed was Canadian. But I'm like was/were the countless American NASA astronauts already booked for something else?

 

[bryce]

I still wonder...does this mean they are going to eventually show "Race to Mars" as well?

Someday maybe...???

Based on contemporary, international research, the Race to Mars mini-series is a key element in this groundbreaking multi-platform television and interactive event that tells the story of the first human mission to the planet Mars. This unprecedented project includes the ambitious miniseries and a six-hour companion documentary series, Mars Rising.

 

[M'Sharak]

Johnny Rico said:

M´Sharak said:

arch101 said:
I'm seeing a Canadian bent on this series. Lots of mentions of "even Canada" when talking of nations involved in possible missions. Lots of Canadian scientists, Canadian government officials, James Cameron listed as "Canadian filmmaker" and , of course, The Shat (born: Montreal) I was almost surprised that a Canada-only prospect wasn't mentioned.

If you look at the credits, you'll find that it's a Canadian production, made in association with Discovery Channel Canada, so it's only fair that there'd be a few cheers for the home team. There do seem to be people from quite a number of countries involved in its making, though.

Well, that explains it...it was really noticeable in Episode 3 on how big its Canadian bent is. Damn near every "expert" they interviewed was Canadian. But I'm like was/were the countless American NASA astronauts already booked for something else?

Right. I'm sure they did it for the sole purpose of snubbing NASA and the American viewing public, those uppity Canucks.

 

[Johnny Rico]

M´Sharak said:

Johnny Rico said:

M´Sharak said:

arch101 said:
I'm seeing a Canadian bent on this series. Lots of mentions of "even Canada" when talking of nations involved in possible missions. Lots of Canadian scientists, Canadian government officials, James Cameron listed as "Canadian filmmaker" and , of course, The Shat (born: Montreal) I was almost surprised that a Canada-only prospect wasn't mentioned.

If you look at the credits, you'll find that it's a Canadian production, made in association with Discovery Channel Canada, so it's only fair that there'd be a few cheers for the home team. There do seem to be people from quite a number of countries involved in its making, though.

Well, that explains it...it was really noticeable in Episode 3 on how big its Canadian bent is. Damn near every "expert" they interviewed was Canadian. But I'm like was/were the countless American NASA astronauts already booked for something else?

Right. I'm sure they did it for the sole purpose of snubbing NASA and the American viewing public, those uppity Canucks.

Yeah, they need to go back to the Vancouver studio sets where they came from!