[NASA is full of crap] Space experts warn Congress that NASA’s “Journey to Mars” is illusory

If OK Go can do this, why can't we land someone on Mars?

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When in earth's orbit, they get less because of the protection from the earth's magnetic field.

 

Okay, so I just got some clarification and hopefully this clears anything up.

Indeed vibration was a significant concern, and not easily fixed when the thrusters are going to fire. So mostly in space it wouldn't be a problem, but in docking with the space station, or landing on Mars, or anytime the thrusters would be required to fire it was a potential problem. The major problem with vibration was with takeoff and secondly when landing when the astronauts would have to be able to see screens in order to know whether to abort or not, and which abort plan with which to proceed.

So yes while cruising outside the atmosphere, the odds are that it wasn't a real problem. But even there if they had to fire the thrusters then yes the vibration would have been a problem. It was not the biggest concern or the only problem by far. But it was actually a legitimate concern when asked to use the same technology being used for unmanned flights.

 

That makes some sense but it still seems like a problem that could be easily dealt with. My guess is this goes back to an argument within manned space flight since the Mercury days. How much is an astronaut and actual pilot and how much are they just payload.

Since we've had a lot of history with remote controlled craft it seems like that could be handled without the astronauts having to control. Besides that panels could be done as displays within the astronauts visors or other means that are moving with the astronauts so there is little difference in relative motion between the astronauts vision and the display.

 

That sounds right about the remote control aircraft type situation.

I think the plan was for most of it to be done without the Astronauts really in control. The main concern was just if they had to abort, and they would have to adopt the correct plan for aborting the mission depending on the circumstances. So it sounds most likely that it was "an in case of emergency" type concern rather than an actual standard operations deal.

 

when did Bandwagoner turn into such a MOH?