From: JAY DUGGER (duggerj1@charter.net)
Date: Thu Sep 11 2003 - 15:40:18 MDT
Thursday, 11 September 2003
> Can anyone provide a reference for the estimated cost of
> NASA's Mars Reference Mission?
"It isn't clear to me what report you are referencing (in
the
future it might be nice to post a URL)..."
Seriously, I meant the "Human Exploration of Mars: The
Reference Mission of the NASA Mars Exploration Study
Team", which lies at this URL.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/mars/reference/hem/hem1.html
"But Zubrin, in Chapter 3 on pgs 46/47 of "The Case for
Mars"
documents the "90-Day Study on Human Exploration of the
Moon and
Mars", otherwise known as "The 90-Day Report".
He says, "The 90-Day Report did not include a published
cost
estimate; however cost estimates for the program were
generated
that were eventually leaked to the press. The bottom
line:
$450 Billion.""
It seems to me this figure came from the upper end of
estimates given for the first Bush administration's Space
Exploration Initiative, later re-named Human Exploration
Initiative.
"How accurate this is, I don't know."
Given Zubrin's general enthusiasm, and his seeming disdain
for NASA, that $50 billion number might overstate the
case. However, Zubrin's "Entering Space" on page 104 gives
$50 billion for this mission.
Rather than toss out possibly better ways to spend money
on paper spacecraft (Saturn V, Shuttle-C, ORION, space
elevator), I'd like to point out that Bush's recent $87
billion request for additional funds would pay for going
to Mars even on a cost-plus basis.
Jay Dugger : Til Eulenspiegel
http://www.owlmirror.net/cgi-bin/blosxom
Sometimes the delete key serves best.
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