[Spaceships] [High-Tech] [Action] Cydonia Or Bust, TL8

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Langy

You don't. The 5-10 years was if this was a flat-out emergency using a large portion of the entire nation's effort put into it, including bypassing political and environmental consequences of using nukes and being willing to risk losing significant numbers of astronauts to failures.

Then why did you suggest concealing it in post #4? It sounds like you meant your "5-10 year emergency" plans and your "disguise it as a normal mission" plan to be separate, but that wasn't clear in that post.

The problem is that with plausible near-future tech, you are stuck with Hohmann orbits and months of travel time in microgravity, in which the assault team can't train properly because they are stuck in a space the size of a bus. If they have a telescope, the enemy knows you are coming, and has a good idea of your mass and propulsion type and therefore numbers. They will also be able to spot your test flights, even if you keep them near earth. The assault team will be badly affected by the switch from microgravity to Mars surface gravity, and probably won't have much time to acclimatize when they arrive. So the OP sounds like a basically cinematic idea, and worrying about how to make it realistic is probably less useful than worrying about what would make the tunnel fight on Mars really cool.

It seems odd that you can't nuke the site from orbit, but you can win by destroying the control room, whether or not any of the assault team survives.