Per Wikipedia: [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_Heavy"]Falcon Heavy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
'Red Dragon' Mars Mission
As of July 2011, NASA Ames Research Center is developing a concept for a low-cost Mars mission that would utilize Falcon Heavy as the launch vehicle and trans-Martian injection vehicle, and the Dragon capsule to enter the Martian atmosphere. The concept would be proposed in 2012/2013 as a NASA Discovery mission for launch in 2018 and arrival at Mars several months later. The science objectives of the mission would be to look for evidence of life — detecting "molecules that are proof of life, like DNA or perchlorate reductase ... proof of life through biomolecules. ... Red Dragon would drill 3.3 feet (1.0 m) or so underground, in an effort to sample reservoirs of water ice known to lurk under the red dirt." The mission cost is projected to be less than US$425,000,000, not including the launch cost.[23]
So is this a SpaceX fan's dream flight or what? I didn't think it would take NASA long to figure out how quickly and cheaply they could do the things they were talking about doing by using SpaceX hardware. Everyone keeps saying Musk can't do it, and I hope they keep saying it... because every time they say he can't do it, he does it. What a day would that be for commercial spaceflight...
'Red Dragon' Mars Mission
As of July 2011, NASA Ames Research Center is developing a concept for a low-cost Mars mission that would utilize Falcon Heavy as the launch vehicle and trans-Martian injection vehicle, and the Dragon capsule to enter the Martian atmosphere. The concept would be proposed in 2012/2013 as a NASA Discovery mission for launch in 2018 and arrival at Mars several months later. The science objectives of the mission would be to look for evidence of life — detecting "molecules that are proof of life, like DNA or perchlorate reductase ... proof of life through biomolecules. ... Red Dragon would drill 3.3 feet (1.0 m) or so underground, in an effort to sample reservoirs of water ice known to lurk under the red dirt." The mission cost is projected to be less than US$425,000,000, not including the launch cost.[23]
So is this a SpaceX fan's dream flight or what? I didn't think it would take NASA long to figure out how quickly and cheaply they could do the things they were talking about doing by using SpaceX hardware. Everyone keeps saying Musk can't do it, and I hope they keep saying it... because every time they say he can't do it, he does it. What a day would that be for commercial spaceflight...
