NASA has unveiled final design for the rocket that will take us to Mars, exciting news
BUT what new design; looks like Saturn V all over again
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/14/scitech/main20106122.shtml

Interesting.. There are others factors as well.

Dont take me wrong dude.

Powerful rockets could be made, but not powerful men .
Yes, I am talking about G-force.

More the power, more the acceleration, more the G-force the pilot has to bear.

Sorry, didn't get you point

but NASA didn't say that it's a speed monster... it's just a monster rocket, capable of lifting heavy loads or carrying out long missions. so, the astronauts won't have to experience extreme g-forces.

Tell me about it !!

Yes, it just like the other rockets men have been riding on for decades. Rumors are it is actually Saturn V with some minor improvements. However significant technological improvement are expected (obviously ) in the capsule.

Some people are calling it a waste of time and energy. In a country plagued with economic deficit, its understood. Hope they can balance keeping afloat and research..... time will tell.....

@ SunLikeStar,augustinev sir,

Recently, i saw a documentry regarding- life on mars and how man could reach Mars.

So, The distance is so much that the spacecraft needs a good speed to cover the distance in short time span. This time span was estimated to be 1 year.

To gain that speed, the spacecraft needs good acceleration.Offcource, once the speed is gained, the G-force will become zero.
But during acceleration the crew will have to suffer a good amount of G-force, which may go upto 5-G.

Being in 4-G creates lots of problems from loss of blood flow in many parts of body to the loss of visibility.

Coming to the point: Man can bear this much G-force only for a short time.I guess fighter pilots could better explain.( augustinev sir )
But to gain the speed required, man will have to suffer it for several hours. And no human can bear that for hours.

The G force problem is not of much interest to me as they have solved this problems many years ago, even before most of us were born. Something to do with G suits and controlled acceleration or what ever
But there are many more fascinating problems to think of, like what would they eat? will they be carrying fuel for return also and many more things like that ..

I don't know, I just want to see this happening before my time is done

Me too

there are couple of interesting theories around that. they can leave separate capsules laden with food and fuel at calculated positions on the way to mars or back to the earth. astronauts don't have to lug around all the supplies in one go, on a gigantic rocket. they can pick up regular supplies of rockets/fuel on the way, just like we do on earth. :)

i don't know where i read about all this... it could be that BBC documentary or i just dreamt it... lol

“Space Odyssey - Voyage To The Planets”: it's a nice documentary/TV series about a trip around solar system. and they've also shown how it's possible to utilize the gravitational pull of other planets to gain momentum (or save fuel).

instead of food and fuel, i'd be much more interested in how they cope up with such a long and lonesome journey? we know that technologically it's possible to travel to mars (or any other planet in the future) but it's not published openly how they are going to tackle the psychological challenges?

They are planning on- board robots to keep them company. Staying with the  same people in a space capsule headed for a distant planet should play with your mind... >