Mars Landing Schemes - Then and Now

 

Once upon a time, A guy named Robert Zubrin wrote a great book, called “A Case For Mars”. He outlined a simple plan, called Mars Direct, where two missions could be launched. One would be a supply craft, that would land a bunch of supplies for a crew to use to live on for a while. The other would be a crew canister itself, to land on Mars, near the supply craft. He outlined what seemed like a simple and elegant plan to send people to Mars, and bring them back again.

Then we went through some changes over the years, since around 1996 when that book was written. The Shuttle program was discontinued. We relied on Russian Soyuz to get into space. Until finally, SpaceX came long with their crew dragon. The Crew dragon is great for what it does. But it can’t lift heavy components like the Shuttle did. So Elon & Co are working on their Starship heavy lifter. But it has blown up several times, and is nowhere near ready for prime time. And the Chinese are making slow but steady, regular progress in space, constructing their own complete space station. They are planning on collaborating with the Russians on another space station, and even a Moon Base.

The other day on some TV show, up pops Mr. Zubrin again, spouting some nonsense about using a Star-boat, carried inside a Starship, to bring a crew to Mars and back. No more simple, direct plan. Now it involves multiple ships, refueling, stations along the way, etc. In my humble opinion, a real big mess. I partly blame NASA and the subcontractors, for repeatedly failing to meet targets and get the Artemis booster and other components built and launched. Nothing but huge cost overruns and delay, delay, delay. So the government is forced again and again, to turn to Musk for help.

What can Elon Musk do that NASA cannot? And why is this? What changes could NASA make to achieve the same level of success as Musk & Co?

In any case, it is sad to me to see Mr. Zubrin reduced to parroting some ridiculous space-boat scheme, when at one time he had a stellar plan to get people to Mars. (Disclaimer: Zubrin is a respected scientist with degrees, who has worked for Lockheed, etc, in the past. I have a lot of respect for the man, who is also a well-regarded author. Was just chagrined when I saw him in the aforementioned video clip. Mars Direct was a much more impressive plan.)

In any case, it doesn’t matter – now we are going to try and beat the Chinese and land people on the Moon again. Where is a Werner Von Braun when you need him? Maybe India will beat us all back to the moon. Lol. Thanks for reading my rant.

Time Travelling Detritus

 

The episodes come one after the other.

Romances, nerdy adventures,

clubhouse kids using lightning for time travel juice.

Repeating scenarios all end in a brothers’ death.

Possibilities for stories seem endless.

Long ago I realized that we

all have one time traveling construct:

our minds and memories.

We built many aids and assists;

Writing, photographs, movies,

digital memory devices aplenty.

One of the most recent,

online social media sites,

saturate our minds with memories:

Old photos, videos, mementos.

Time becomes a Horizontal Now,

packed full of wayback leaps,

and the occasional “what if” future idea posted.

Our linear sensory worldview gets distorted.

The young coming up have a different worldview,

and their offspring will have a new one, too.

It’s good to be alive to witness all of this,

even if it gets confusing and mind-numbing.

Science fiction can send one off into

speculative time whirligigs, still always

granting us a second chance to live our

lives today better, when we shut off the TV.

Safe travels everyone, and try not to

trip over yourselves exiting some spacetime loop.

See you on the other side of – yesterday?

little white

 

A long hike brought on an urge,

so I headed into a nearby porta-potty.

Stepped into the hot green space,

tried to pull a locking thingy closed.

Trying not to smell the environs,

I unzip and let a steaming stream loose;

Standing there pissing, spy a white spot

against the green plastic lit up by the sun.

Squinting closer, I see a little white spider.

Gives me a thing to watch as I unload,

sound reverberating, attention riveted

on that tiny white creature lowering itself.

It moves a bit, then turns around, tries to climb,

lowers itself more, hangs in space and rotates...

What kind of universe does it perceive?

Its milky way is this large green KYBO;

Don’t know and don’t care, because

I’m done pissing and zip it up again.

Leave its universe with a push of the door,

perhaps wish it luck making a web or whatever.

My universe contains a beautiful spring day in May,

and I’m going to enjoy it. Good luck,

little white spider suspended in stinky space.

You’ll need it.

Fit Impressions

 

Repetitive droning of treadmill motors

walking or trotting seeing flashing display

Time elapsed and time remaining synchronous

keeping time with my legs and breath.

Glace up at the bodies of all ages,

young and solid, older and bulky,

or plain old and frail,

all pumping their blood,

keeping healthy or chasing health.

Those young bodies that can take or do anything

amaze one that has spanned six decades.

“Did I ever look like that?”

But they are indifferent, flexing and flicking,

their minds on many different things.

Some are like me, just numb to the need to

repeat, repeat, repeat the workout,

persist and stay at it,

fighting caloric accumulations,

hoping to look a little bit better,

to live to chase another day.

Remembrance Roads

 

Another one of those

“On this day when” remembrances

pop up on a social media news feed.

I browse through pictures of some past road trip.

Making my way down dusty state roads,

rural areas unfolding with their soft scenery;

Chartreuse chicken coops next to rambling old farmhouses,

bits of old cloth hanging from a nail for a door handle.

I slow my car, to snap a few pics, then bite into one of the

last doughnuts on the front seat, vague fears of rotten teeth

swirl, while I remind myself to go to the dentist one of these days.

But I just taste acrid memories, as remembrance

of things done sift in and out of my thoughts.

“What would my life have been had I come from one of

these rural areas, with nothing but hard work and growing things around?”

I sniff, then sneeze – some dust of the past, perhaps.

Think and muse as I drive.

At one time, some of these farmsteads had families,

children running around between the barns,

their laughter echoing in and out,

startling the laying hens and hogs nearby.

But those days are long gone, memories like dust hanging in the air.

Time to drive on, drive on, always driving on.

Mixed Bag

 

     Ah, the summer travel season approaches. And since I took a long drive this spring, can share some impressions after navigating around 3,000 miles of the Interstates. First – if you don’t need to take a long drive, maybe you just shouldn’t this year. There are many construction areas, as state crews try to keep the roads maintained the best they can. In some places, there are potholes, or sudden holes that look like something hit the concrete surface at high velocity, leaving a jagged hole with some debris. A tire hitting one of these really makes a jarring impact. Luckily, we didn’t have a flat.

Then there is the traffic itself. People are always in a hurry. Especially large SUV’s and trucks that roar by, ignoring speed limits. Semi-tractor trailers try to pass each other, and often end up blocking the passing lane. Or they swerve on and off the rumble strips, doing who knows what inside the cab while their vehicles wobble all over the road. And yes, to be fair, sometimes cars whip in and out dangerously close to the Semi’s. It is a free-for-all wild west atmosphere at times on the Interstates – it can be a real test of nerves, and lead to a lot of cursing and unpleasant emotions. Long distance drives are not always easy. The glory or romance of just getting away from it all on the open road is appealing, for sure. But the reality can be much less pleasant.

This is not to say that traveling is all bad. There are many amazing things to see out there, especially here in the USA. And when you get to a destination, it can be delightful, to check into a nice hotel and be greeted warmly, and get a great room. Or to see an amazing national park for the first time. Great memories. It is worth it to see new destinations. Just be sure and pack a lot of patience with you, and try to be somewhat courteous on the highways. Pay some courtesy forward on the roads – you may get some back in return. Traveling can be a mixed bag! It is worth it. But it sure feels good to get back home too. Happy journeys – and may they be safe too. (be attentive on the road – watch out for what is up ahead). Thanks for reading.

Hobby Heaven

 

For some people it’s trains…

To paint them, or ride them around, or have

a big model railroad layout in the basement.

Makes their life complete – and happier.

Others may collect cast-iron car models,

larger or smaller or matchbox size.

They line shelves and collect dust,

but look racy like they want to go fast.

Some buy a lot of glass sculptures,

then shelving to display their finds.

If the sun hits them just right they gleam,

but also attract dust that obscures the shine.

Others like life-sized cars or statues,

or whatever they take a fancy to.

Collecting things is addictive and fun,

but lightens the bank accounts too.

The shrewd ones collect money itself,

buying stocks, bonds, or precious metals.

Money as a collectible takes many forms…

And can yield some great returns, as well as

disappointing results at times.

Sometimes it is more fun to have ‘things’

of indeterminate, fluctuating values.

Things you can touch, hold in your hand,

enjoy heft and girth, rather than estimated worth.

And when the markets crash,

as they often, inevitably do,

you still have your pieces,

something solid to hang on to.

No doubt the weather changes

 

One day we get 80 degrees and high winds,

the next it’s 35 degrees and snowflakes are swirling.

The Iowa weather roller-coaster is really moving!

Another reason to have a good HVAC system.

Once upon some distant time, I thought things were

more, well, static, or frozen in stability.

It was cold in the winter, hot in the summer,

and moderate in the fall and spring.

Then as I grew, developed or paid more attention,

began to notice these wild swings in weather.

Warm or hot early springs, tulips popping up,

then sudden blizzards snap us back to winter.

Summer weather with its nasty severe surprises,

tornadoes and derechos and 8-inch downpours.

Would find myself asking, “It never used to be like this,

did it?” I cannot remember weather being so wild.

We seemed to get long stretches of warm or hot days

in summertime, moderate ones in the fall,

cold and snowy ones in the winter.

Actual temperatures? I never knew or kept track.

Maybe we just didn’t have as much information,

which today we get bombarded with, inundated.

In 1973, the entire state of Iowa got buried from a

freak snowstorm, up to two feet of snow.

The whole state was paralyzed. Snowmobiles became

ambulances. Everything else shut down.

A week later, it had all melted off, and life resumed.

Freaky weather has always been there,

whether anyone realized it or not.

Let’s see, only 10,500 more years until the next ice age.