Quote:
Originally Posted by marvin
How quickly could we send a manned mission to each of these planets?
Assuming a slightly modified Space 1889 setting for the Steampunk worlds; how would the Europeans on these planets fare until the Earth nations re-establish contact?
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In 1973, it would probably be possible to get Saturn V production going again. With a bunch of those and an Earth Orbit Rendezvous setup with a NERVA stage, a manned Mars mission is doable, but quite risky. It would probably take something like ten years.
However, communication would be established in a few weeks by heliograph. The colonists on Mars will immediately notice their normal heliograph traffic has stopped, and if the have a view of Earth's nightside will see that there's a
lot more city lighting than they're used to seeing. They'll probably start flashing their biggest heliograph to see if they can make any contact, and someone will see it very quickly.
So Earth will have a fair idea what's happened long before any space missions can be sent. Since communications secrecy is impractical, the Soviet bloc will know what's going on as well as the West and the Space Race will restart. The
N1 project will have to shape up pretty fast, though.