Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (40 page)

“I’m curious, how
much food does it take to feed four people for the time you’ll be there and,
what will you be eating?” Jay asked.

“About 13,000
pounds,” Gabe replied. “So far as our cuisine is concerned, a lot of lobster
tails and beluga caviar would be good, but it will mostly be freeze dried items
to keep the weight down.”

Jay grinned. “So it’s
not like you’ll have a five-star restaurant up there?”

“No, probably not.”

“Okay, I’m staying
here. It sounds to me like you’re going to need a pretty big rocket.”

Jeff grinned. “There
isn’t one big enough. Even the giant Saturn V used in the Apollo program
doesn’t come close.”

“So, how do you do
it?”

“Well, given what’s
commercially available today in heavy-lift launch vehicles, it will probably
require twelve launches.”

“Twelve?”

“Yes.”

“I expect that’s
going to require a fair amount of gas.”

“Yes indeed. Abby,
you want to talk about gas?”

Jay laughed. “Nice
guy. Gabe gets to talk about food, Abby gets the gas.”

Abby laughed and
nodded. “That’s usually how it works out. Um, on average – and it varies a bit
between launch vehicles – it takes about 22 pounds of fuel to launch one pound
of payload into low Earth orbit; what we call LEO, typically 100 to 400 miles
in altitude. So, a 50,000 pound payload would require around 1.1 million pounds
of fuel to LEO. Now once you’re in LEO, you still need to get to Mars. That
requires another burn – called a TMI, or Trans-Mars Injection – that takes
another 1.2 pounds of fuel per pound of payload. So, from the launch pad here
on Earth to Mars, not including the fuel it takes to slow down once you get
there and actually land on the planet – a 50,000 pound payload takes not quite
1.2 million pounds of fuel.”

“About like driving a
Dodge Viper across town?”

Abby laughed. “Yeah, about. But it
gets worse. The problem is the 60,000 pounds or so of fuel that is needed for
the TMI of a 50,000 pound payload. From here on Earth that 60,000 pounds of
fuel counts as payload, since you have to get it up into LEO to use it. It
takes another 1.3 million pounds of fuel just to get
that
off the ground
and into LEO. So, all told, to get a 50,000 pound payload from the launch pad
to Mars, requires around two and a half million pounds of rocket fuel.”

“And how much is your
payload?”

“Actual, uh, stuff that we’ll be
using, around 260,000 pounds. Including boosters, we estimate the total launch
weight to be right around a million pounds.”

Jay looked at her
with surprise. “So, in total, how much fuel will all this require?”

Abby sighed. “Oh boy,
uh…” she turned to Gabe, “…
I dunno, twenty…”

Gabe nodded, “About
twenty-four.”

Abby turned back to
Jay. “Yeah, about twenty-four million pounds, give or take a million.”

“Twenty-four million
pounds! How many gallons of gas is that.”

“Well, about six
pounds per gallon so, four million gallons.”

Jay grinned. “Premium
or regular?”

Abby laughed. “I
think you’d have to call it premium. Mostly we’ll be using bipropellants; that
is, an oxidizer – usually LOX, liquid oxygen, though in some cases N
₂
O
₄
or dinitrogen tetroxide – and a fuel – either liquid hydrogen, RP-1 or Rocket Propellant
1, essentially kerosene, and a few others, depends on the application. The
Reaction Control Systems – RCS – for attitude and steering will generally use a
monopropellant like hydrazine. Not stuff you’re gonna find down at the corner
gas station.”

Jay shook his head.
“Susan – bringing you into this – how long will it take you to get there?”

Susan smiled. “Us?
195 days, give or take a couple hours. We’ll be flying what’s called a Type 1
trajectory, which will take us less than half-way around the sun. The cargo
missions will be flying a Type 2 trajectory, or more than half-way around the
sun. Type 1 trajectories are faster but require more fuel, and we don’t really
want to spend any more time in space than we have to. We’re anxious to get
there.”

“Okay, so when will
you get there?”

Susan glanced at
Gabe. “Help.”

Gabe smiled. “We
should arrive in orbit around a quarter to seven in the evening Eastern
Daylight Time on October 3
^rd
. Then we’ll make two complete orbits of
the planet and land, at least according to the current flight plan, at around
ten p.m. Eastern time on October 5
^th
three years from now.”

“And you know that
now?”

“Oh yes. It’s all
just mathematics.”

“And who does the
math?”

“Well, it’s done by
computers.”

Jeff chuckled. “And
then she double-checks the computers, because she can do it in her head.”

Leno laughed and
looked at Gabe. “Wait a minute. You can do this kind of math in your head?”

Gabe grinned
sheepishly and nodded. “Uh huh, though not as many significant digits as the
computers can.”

Jeff smiled. “She’s
very handy to have around.”

“I guess. Gabe, could
I interest you in helping me balance my checkbook?”

Gabe laughed.
“Orbital mechanics and quadratic equations I can do. Checkbooks?” She shook her
head, “Not so much.”

Jay turned to Chrissie.
“Now, Chrissie, you’re not going, right?”

Chrissie nodded and
shrugged. “Right.”

“Would you like to?”

Chrissie smiled. “Oh
yeah!”

“Why?”

Chrissie smiled
softly and looked at the floor for a moment, then back at Jay. “It’ll probably
sound trite to many people but simply put: to boldly go where no man has gone
before. Put another way, why are we here? To be kept like sheep or to…” she
waved off into the distance, “… explore the far horizon. Personally, I choose
the latter.”

The audience
applauded.

Jay nodded. “So, what
will you be doing while they’re gone?”

“I’ll be in charge of
our Mission Control Center in Newport.”

“So you’ll be in
constant communications with them?”

“Well… yes and no.
This isn’t like the Apollo lunar missions. During Apollo, the one-way communications
delay was, at most, about one and a half seconds. And the only time they were
out of communications was when they passed behind the moon, and loss of signal
was generally around three quarters of an hour. Once the crew arrives at Mars, one-way
communication delays will be anywhere from nine to twenty-two minutes,
depending on Earth’s and Mars’ orbital positions. And, when Mars is in
conjunction, that is, on the opposite side of the sun from Earth, we’ll have no
communications at all for a period of two to three weeks, depending on the
level of solar activity.”

Leno turned back to
Jeff. “Out of communications with Earth for two to three weeks? That doesn’t
bother you?”

Jeff shook his head.
“No. By that point in time we will have been on the planet for more than nine
months and will kind of be used to living on our own.”

“A minute ago you
said, six weeks, ‘you hope’. Why, ‘hope’?”

Jeff nodded. “Well,
aside from potential mechanical problems with the launch vehicles and weather
at the Cape, there are still some, uh, individuals – particularly in government
– that are opposed to the mission going forward.”

“Why is that?”

“The FAA regulates
our airspace, which you have to go through to get into space proper, and
international treaties regulate space and beyond, including Mars. And a host of
other government entities have stuck their fingers in the pot as well. For
example, four years ago, the state of California laid claim to the Apollo 11
landing site on the moon by adding it to the State Historical Registry. The
fact that the site is not in California, or the United States, or even on this
planet, doesn’t seem to bother Sacramento in the least. And there are some in
our government and others around the world that just don’t think private citizens
should be going into space – and, more to the point, Mars – without their
permission, if at all. Governments love to regulate things, and this is one of
them. Now, we’ve met the letter of the law for every U.S. and international
regulatory requirement for our scheduled December launches. But for some,
that’s still not enough. Some in Congress, for example, are still objecting to
the entire mission on the simple basis that it’s not being conducted by NASA.
However, since NASA has no plan for a manned Mars mission, the argument would
in fact seem to be opposition to anyone going. The other complaint regards
planetary protection. An international treaty spells out the requirements for
protecting both Mars and Earth from forward and backward contamination. Now,
though we’ve met cleanliness and sterility requirements for the upcoming
launches – at enormous expense, I might add – we will not be able to meet those
requirements for the eventual crew launch, since we can’t meet the sterility
requirements without killing the crew in the process; which we kind of object
to.”

Leno frowned. “That sounds like quite
a Catch-22?”

Jeff grinned. “You
have no idea. Sterility requirements for sending something to Mars essentially
call for baking it at 250ºF for a week. Um, we object.”

Some in the audience
laughed nervously.

“But, if we can’t
meet those requirements, neither can anyone else. So, as currently written,
international treaty effectively makes manned missions to Mars impossible since
the requirements can’t be met without first killing the people that you plan on
sending. And, owing to that, again some people object to this first launch
because, they argue, it cannot be followed up by the crew launch two and a half
years from now. It is indeed the ultimate Catch-22. And all in spite of the
fact that none of our Mars exploration to date has turned up any evidence of
life on Mars, past or present. Now, certainly there are plenty of folks that
seem to desperately hope we do find some lifeform on Mars, but every indication
is it’s simply a dead rock in space. In fact, exhaustive testing here on Earth
has repeatedly demonstrated that Mars is the perfect killer. Without suitable
protection, the planet’s combination of atmosphere, caustic soil, low
temperature, and high levels of ultraviolet radiation will kill anything –
ANYTHING – in about 15 seconds.”

Leno grimaced. “And
you’re looking forward to visiting this vacation paradise?”

Jeff laughed. “Well,
we’re going suitably prepared. Still, even that does raise an interesting conundrum.
Just for argument’s sake, supposing there is some lifeform that can survive on
Mars. What gives us here on Earth the authority to regulate it?”

“And I thought filing
taxes was tough.”

The audience laughed
with Jeff. “It’s a challenge.”

“So, what are you
going to do?”

“Well, barring last
minute action by Congress to prohibit our use of launch facilities at Cape
Canaveral, we have every intention of going ahead with the December launch. So
far as the international treaty on Mars is concerned, that will have to be
modified before anyone ever goes to Mars; so they may as well do it now since
we’re standing at the gate waiting to go. We’ll see.”

Jay shook his head.
“Well I wish you the best of luck.”

“Thank you.”

The audience stood,
cheered and applauded.

Jeff held up his finger. “Jay, I’d
like to make one other point if I may. Planning for the Mars Science Laboratory
began in 2003, it was approved in September 2006, launched in November 2011,
and finally landed on Mars about 14 months ago. Eight years in development.
With our launch in December, we will have completed the first major step on our
mission in seventeen and a half months. So far, the MSL has traveled about six
miles. During its
two year
planned mission it will travel somewhere
between twelve and twenty-five miles. Our rovers can travel in excess of
twenty-five miles
an hour
and have effectively unlimited range. The MSL
weighs 1,850 pounds and is the heaviest manmade object ever landed on Mars. Our
cargo payload that will be launched in December weighs a bit over twenty-seven
tons
and constitutes a complete livable habitat. And finally, the MSL cost the
taxpayers something in the neighborhood of $2.5 billion. What we will be
landing on Mars in less than a year cost a little more than one-tenth of that.
So, this will no doubt sound a little self-serving,” Jeff grinned, “and it is,
but if government will just get out of the way and allow human ingenuity to
take its course, there’s no limit to what we can do. And we can do it faster,
better, and cheaper.”

The audience again
leaped to its feet and applauded loud and long.

“Alright, now I know
you have to fly back to the east coast tonight but, before I let you go, Gabe,
I understand that when you’re not designing rockets, you play the piano.”

Gabe grinned
sheepishly and nodded. “Uh huh.”