We’ve never launched from mars much less have an entire manufacturing plant and refueling station built, so it doesnt really seem pertinent at this juncture to be launching Vulcan rockets and frequent satellites that that technology.
We have flown this experiment on the ISS. It is a chemical process that is over 100 years old and is well understood.
It’s also the only way to lift any significant mass off of mars, because as you said we have no manufacturing or refueling there. So the rocket must refuel itself.
It then follows that if Mars is the next major target of exploration, and methane is cheap and abundant, why not get started now? The alternative is to spend a decade qualifying an engine for human space flight after the green light for a crewed mission.
Alright cool but we’ve never used these rockets anywhere other than earth. Their development for future use isn’t an excuse to use them over other types currently.
Also, Mars has lower gravity and little to no atmosphere, there are definitely other ways in that pointless hypothetical.
They say this a lot, so I expect they have some machinery running to demonstrate the technology here on earth? We have plenty of hydrogen here after all.
Oddly enough when the process was demonstrated by French scientists in the 1800s they did it in space, so the earth has yet to see this advanced technology.
Importantly they use methane because you can generate methane on Mars(especially if you bring some spare hydrogen).
We’ve never launched from mars much less have an entire manufacturing plant and refueling station built, so it doesnt really seem pertinent at this juncture to be launching Vulcan rockets and frequent satellites that that technology.
They use methane because it’s cheap and light. Any other justification is just bullshit greenwashing.
We have flown this experiment on the ISS. It is a chemical process that is over 100 years old and is well understood.
It’s also the only way to lift any significant mass off of mars, because as you said we have no manufacturing or refueling there. So the rocket must refuel itself.
It then follows that if Mars is the next major target of exploration, and methane is cheap and abundant, why not get started now? The alternative is to spend a decade qualifying an engine for human space flight after the green light for a crewed mission.
Alright cool but we’ve never used these rockets anywhere other than earth. Their development for future use isn’t an excuse to use them over other types currently.
Also, Mars has lower gravity and little to no atmosphere, there are definitely other ways in that pointless hypothetical.
They say this a lot, so I expect they have some machinery running to demonstrate the technology here on earth? We have plenty of hydrogen here after all.
Correct. It’s called the Sabatier reaction and it’s over 100 years old.
So where are the machines on earth demonstrating the process?
Oddly enough when the process was demonstrated by French scientists in the 1800s they did it in space, so the earth has yet to see this advanced technology.