OFMM Science Goals - Surface: Discussion

[MaverickSawyer]

Can we model any of this mission after the Red Mars / Green Mars / Blue mars trilogy? I.e. make the first base into Underhill, think about the Space Elevator, think about terraforming?

Or would these be an OFMM 6, 7, 8 ... into the distant future?

That's a great idea for an addon pack, but not missions. This is supposed to be a here and back mission.

From the scope of the missions being discussed, I think we should have a rough plan as follows:
Upon landing, plant a flag of choice, grab and bag a bunch of rocks and regolith, and take some pictures. This way, in case we have to bugh out, we have done something of value and can still make the immediate return window. Afterwards, after the return window closes, then we begin a long term science campaign, visiting areas of interest around the LZ.
Gary, you said something about +/- 10 degrees inclination? that's not very much to work with, as it really crimps our ablility to use the Cook as an additional set of eyes on orbit. If we put it in a polar orbit, we could pack along a really powerful sensor suite for picking out sites of scientific interest for the ground teams to explore.
:2cents:

---------- Post added at 10:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:24 PM ----------

In the spirit of the discussion of future OFMMs, I think that we could maybe make a second mission be another "short term" mission, testing equipment for a colony, which would be built over the next few missions. however, this is fftopic: at the moment, so I am going to drop this and plan my flight for OFMM-P1.

 

[Chub777]

plant a flag of choice

I know this is off-topic (sort of), but I would suggest planting the UCGO flag that comes with the add-on. If not, someone can make a config for a flag with the globe on it or the UN symbol.

Upon landing, plant a flag of choice, grab and bag a bunch of rocks and regolith, and take some pictures. This way, in case we have to bugh out, we have done something of value and can still make the immediate return window. Afterwards, after the return window closes, then we begin a long term science campaign, visiting areas of interest around the LZ.

I agree with this.

 

[garyw]

I know this is off-topic (sort of), but I would suggest planting the UCGO flag that comes with the add-on. If not, someone can make a config for a flag with the globe on it or the UN symbol.

Or with flags of the people involved in the project and a special one with the O-F logo?

 

[Spacethingy]

Or with flags of the people involved in the project and a special one with the O-F logo?

I made a flag for OF recently, not a very good one though. It's for the Orbiter Flag Project addon.
View attachment flag.bmp

For sciencey stuff, how about seismological studies? Take some explosives, kaboom! (Mythbusters-style science...) Measure the waves from several different points. Could warrant various landing sites/rover missions.

 

[garyw]

For sciencey stuff, how about seismological studies? Take some explosives, kaboom! (Mythbusters-style science...) Measure the waves from several different points. Could warrant various landing sites/rover missions.

how about having the james cook fire something at mars to test the seismometers?

 

[Urwumpe]

how about having the james cook fire something at mars to test the seismometers?

Sounds like a good idea. Since we should prevent contamination of Mars, this would mean using waste for this is a bad idea. But maybe we can use a 250 kg tungsten cone as additional payload, this could possibly impact at 2500 m/s, giving it the power of 250 kg TNT, without the risk of spreading life from Earth.

 

[Pipcard]

Or with flags of the people involved in the project and a special one with the O-F logo?

(To remind everyone)

My patch:

[deleted section]

I'll post only this because I don't want this thread to get too off-topic.

Just to be on-topic: Are we going to look for fossils or signs of organic compounds in those Martian rocks?

 

[Jarod]

maybe we can use a 250 kg tungsten cone as additional payload, this could possibly impact at 2500 m/s, giving it the power of 250 kg TNT, without the risk of spreading life from Earth.

Nicknamed the Democracy module. :lol:

 

[garyw]

Sounds like a good idea. Since we should prevent contamination of Mars, this would mean using waste for this is a bad idea. But maybe we can use a 250 kg tungsten cone as additional payload, this could possibly impact at 2500 m/s, giving it the power of 250 kg TNT, without the risk of spreading life from Earth.

I was thinking something like the deep impact impactor.

However, I think you are a little too concerned about contamination. We are going to have ummu's stomping around and there is no way to completely steralise a spacesuit. Also there will be a lot of gasses thrown into the air from the landing XR-2's and it's not possible to completely sterilise those.

 

[Cras]

I was just thinking about XR-2s and contamination last night for a possible Arrow-XR2 jaunt to Mars. Never has a reusable spacecraft been used for a surface lander. And there would issues abound on that front. Unlike the rovers that are on mars now, the XR-2s would be exposed to the "elements" as it were for the Earth launch. Then land on Mars. Get filthy from the Mars duststorms, then return to the mother ship. I would guess that when we deorbit the XR-2s, it could be done at quite a steep angle to get the hull temps as high as possible, thinking that this would do well to destroy any Mars gunk on the Hull, but there is really no way to get the XR-2s, a reusable space plane, sterile, land it somewhere, and get is sterile again for a return to Earth. Add on the idea of sending XR2s to the moon, and you see where this goes.

I say do our best, but it such concerns start to really get in the way of our mission design, such as rule out XR-2s for Martian landing, ignore them and move on.

 

[garyw]

I was thinking that one of the first things that could be deployed are 'anti-static' landing pads that use 'tech' to keep dust at bay. Later landings can use those pads.

However, dust from suits in the XR-2s will be an issue

 

[Urwumpe]

I was thinking that one of the first things that could be deployed are 'anti-static' landing pads that use 'tech' to keep dust at bay. Later landings can use those pads.

However, dust from suits in the XR-2s will be an issue

I would simply say, running around with the vacuum cleaner inside the spacecraft and station will be one important job.

 

[Chub777]

Or with flags of the people involved in the project and a special one with the O-F logo?

I would say that that would take too many flags and cause lag, etc on low end computers.

how about having the james cook fire something at mars to test the seismometers?

Keep in mind that it would need a heatshield (heatshield = extra weight*).

*Unless you have an ablative one.

 

[Luke Skywalker]

I would say that that would take too many flags and cause lag, etc on low end computers.

You mean [ame=http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3410]This flag addon?[/ame]
Or the flags from UCGO? Because flags don't really cause much lag unless there's hundreds of them in the screen.

 

[Kveldulf]

I was thinking that one of the first things that could be deployed are 'anti-static' landing pads that use 'tech' to keep dust at bay. Later landings can use those pads.

However, dust from suits in the XR-2s will be an issue

If we're concerned about any possible contamination, perhaps we could bring along a second set of suits designed for EVA on Mars? Once the EVAs are done, those are stowed away in a sterile environment until the return to Earth.

Unless I'm missing something, in which case I blame it on being half awake.

 

[Cras]

I think it should just be assumed that we will do everything possible to prevent contamination.

 

[Chub777]

You mean This flag addon?
Or the flags from UCGO? Because flags don't really cause much lag unless there's hundreds of them in the screen.

Both I guess. But note that the XR2 can only carry 6 UCGO boxes (there's also the cargo that will land, not sure how much that will bring), and I don't think the entire payload should consist of flags.

 

[garyw]

Both I guess. But note that the XR2 can only carry 6 UCGO boxes (there's also the cargo that will land, not sure how much that will bring), and I don't think the entire payload should consist of flags.

Why would it? What about the large cargo drops sheduled for before the crew even get to Mars?

the landing XR-2 will carry the very bare minimum to ensure the best performance for landing or aborting should the situation for landing be off nominal.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Nailed it there, Gary. Any non-survival equipment should be packed into a drop for pre-positioning. that minimizes the down mass of the XR2s.

Seismic surveys may be tough. We would want a bedrock LZ for that, since the regolith goes down quite a ways... and we would find nothing of interest.

 

[Chub777]

Why would it? What about the large cargo drops sheduled for before the crew even get to Mars?

the landing XR-2 will carry the very bare minimum to ensure the best performance for landing or aborting should the situation for landing be off nominal.

So will the majority of the science equipment touch down unmanned?