Space travel has always been a fight for efficiency. We're constantly striving to do more with less rocket. Payloads have been shrunken down accordingly, with lighter satellites leading the way in recent launches. Sometimes, however, a payload cannot be shrunken down. Whether reducing the mass is limited by the required size or materials, the payload simply cannot be lifted by a rocket designed to carry lighter loads. In cases like these, space travel fanatics get to see their deepest dreams realized and watch as space agencies make everything bigger.
If there was a time for rockets to truly reach an extraordinary scale, it was during the space race. There was something to be said for two nations staging their technological showdown on the basis of rocketry to end up with a standing monument to carefully controlled explosions. As many of us know, America won the space race by becoming the first nation to send astronauts to the moon and return them safely. What many people do not know, is that these Apollo missions lasted far longer than the original 1969 trip with Neil Armstrong. Over the course of three years, 12 missions were sent to the moon, with half of the missions leaving flags just like the very first.
There are 7 American flags in this photo
As many of you would guess, sending humans to the moon is no easy task. To complete this journey, we constructed the single largest rocket ever built by humankind, the Saturn V. This rocket was not large in the sense of it being taller than your average house. This rocket was large in the way that it was taller than your average football field.
The scale of the rocket is directly related to the scale of the mission. Since that time, we have never found a reason to return to that level of power, but all of that may change very soon.
We've heard about the plans to send astronauts to Mars, but not as much about the vehicle necessary to get there. NASA has put out information on their next heavy launch vehicle, the SLS. Designed to stand in as the replacement for the Space Shuttle, the SLS is predicted to carry 130 tonnes (145 tons) to Low Earth Orbit (LEO; 160-2000 kilometers). As compared to other launch systems, the SLS is able to carry a much higher payload than current launch platforms. The largest rocket we're using now was just launched earlier this week, the Delta IV Heavy. Part of the Delta series of rockets in use since the 1960s, the heavy variation can carry 26 tonnes to LEO. The most recent launch, carried out June 11, ferried an NRO satellite to orbit. The launch was a success, marking it a step forward in heavy launch vehicle use in our space program. A video of the launch can be found right here:
<span id="selection-marker-1" class="redactor-selection-marker"></span>With the development of heavy lift rockets such as these, and plans from NASA with the SLS. We expect to hear something from our favorite private space organization, Space-X, and Elon Musk tends to not disappoint. There have been rumors of a super-heavy launch vehicle in design, named the Mars Colonial Transporter (MCT). This design is only speculation right now, but there will have to be some kind of new system to bring our dreams of a manned Mars mission to fruition. There is a large difference between the launch system needed to carry a satellite and the system needed for a manned orbiter. Just the bare tech will not be possible. There are life-support systems that need to be accounted for, provisions for the six-month journey, living quarters, control modules for use by humans, not computers.
On top of that, the size of the module itself must be able to accommodate the astronauts themselves. All of these additional factors only increase the size of the vehicle needed. While I previously said that the MCT is, as of the time this article was written, nothing but speculation, Elon Musk has announced that there will be information released at the International Astronautical Congress in September 2016. Looking at the cautious schedule already released for this congress, there is a time slot for Elon Musk to discuss his plans for a Mars mission near the end of the session. (If you want to see the actual evidence, follow this link, and click the LBM block at 8:30 am for September 30)
The name of the game for spaceflight in recent years has been reduction. In my eyes, it's high time for spaceflight to take back the focus of public and step onto a worldwide platform with the biggest, baddest rocket we can build and dare the cosmos to hold us back. Very soon, there will be a day where mankind will no longer be known as a species confined to their own planet, but as a space-faring species in full, continually pushing back at the boundaries set in front of us.
