Thus, while there are many reasons Mars should not be the top exploration priority for NASA at this time, radiation is not one of them. Certainly, there is no need for nuclear propulsion to go to Mars. billgamesh/Gary Church is the only person on this planet that thinks that.

The one common ground for Moon and Mars boosters is that cheap lunar water could make possible an abundant, high-energy chemical architecture. E.g., a reusable single-stage MTV launched from L2 with an 11 km/sec delta v could half the transit time to Mars to about 90 to 100 days, and do it fully propulsively. In which case the roundtrip radiation dosage would be more like .33 Sv (or even less, since the LH2 in the fuel tanks is an excellent radiation barrier).

A couple years ago the British airship program was discussed here and I often think about that historical precedent as parallel to the present sad situation concerning space exploration. There are several striking similarities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Airship_Scheme

The U.S. public in a sense has been watching a contest between the socialist rocket and the capitalist rocket. It is not a perfect analogy of course. The shuttle happened before the hobby rocket and the SLS has yet to fly. The shuttle was a Saturn V class launch system that only went to LEO and the hobby rocket is not in the same class though hyped as a do-it-all. But the elements of these stories from many different eras are fascinating.

The regulars here know I am slightly left of center and also a SLS supporter and NewSpace critic.
I have stated several times if Musk and Bezos would stop trying to start a LEO tourist empire and focus on lunar landers I would become a NewSpace fanatic.

So I would like to say I am a space enthusiast that does not let politics bias my advocacy. But that would not be completely true. Unfortunately, if “we” do not put our ideologies aside and present some kind of united front then our common interest in space exploration will continue to go the same place it has gone since 1972.

Nowhere.

After Dr. Parker paints his bleak picture for space travelers (“I’m not saying going into space is worse than stepping into the core of a nuclear reator, but….”), note this caveat at the end of the last page:

“But on the bright side, researchers are only beginning to explore the biomedical side of the problem. Natural healing processes in the cell may be able to handle radiation doses that accumulate over an extended period, and some people’s bodies may be better at it than others’. If so, the present estimates of the cancer incidence, all based on short, intense bursts of radiation, may overestimate the danger.”

Or in the words of comedian Dennis Miller – “But then again that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.”

I believe it was, but do not really care.

If you are saying the article is not your source for your statements on the subject, then it would be both useful and polite to list the source.

Depots were always hyped because they were a way to make the evil Super Heavy Lift Vehicle that SpaceX did not have unnecessary. The magical fuel depot made the hobby rocket all that was required to conquer the universe. No cryogenic propellants have ever been stored or transferred in space and, NewSpace propaganda to the contrary, it will not be as easy as putting gas in your car.

Humans expansion Beyond Low Earth Orbit is the only “real” accomplishment that has any magic in it for most of “us”.
A rocket with three humans in it flew around the Moon in 1968 and that was the beginning of the first space age and a capsule coming back splashed down in 1972 and that was the end.
The Moon, for a number of reasons, is not just worthy, it is the only destination.
LEO and Mars are dead ends.

The chain of causation is linked in this fashion:
Due to space radiation, massive shielding is required for any long term human presence.
Dipping water out of the shallow gravity well of the Moon is the only practical source for the thousands of tons of water needed immediately and for future needs. Nuclear energy is required to push such water shields anywhere Beyond Earth and Lunar Orbit (BELO) and the Moon is also the only practical location to test, assemble, and launch such nuclear missions. LEO is the worst place.

In terms of colonization, Gerard K. O’Neill ruled out any natural body in this system as an appropriate second home for human kind. Building miles-in-diameter spinning hollow moons from lunar material was, and is, the optimal solution. Not Mars.

Anyway, many thanks for the link to the source material by Bill.
Learned something new now.

It does bring up other questions.

Joe’s interpretation: “That sure sounds like (1) and (2). If you want to push a political candidate there are plenty of political sites. This will be my last comment on this subject.”

There is nothing in there, Joe, that says that Trump will stop manned spaceflight to ISS or the Moon.

I just added the Dream Chaser as a crew possibility in the 2020s when the RS-25 engines are once again in production.

Marcel