Podcast host John King, interviews Tom Myers, physicist and blogger at The Physics of SpaceX.

We delve into Mars colonisation logistics and future potential technologies.

Subjects discussed today:

• Intro to Tom and how he came to start his blog “The Physics of SpaceX”
• Why SpaceX only reuses the first stage of the Falcon 9 (Tom explains extrapolating from the rocket equation + other calculations the infeasibility of second stage re-use)
• What SpaceX Mars colonisation logistics may look like (BFR + MCT). How the MCT could re-fuel in space.
• How “breaking” when arrive at Mars works (high level) using aerobreaking + retropropulsion
• Using SpaceX Mars logistics for other organisations (universities, governments) to put things on Mars.
• Tom’s background in rocketry - competing in solid fuel rocket building competitions against the USA + French
• 21m - The complexity of an engineering leap from kerosene based fuels to methane
• Fuel options on Mars (Methane or Hydrogen) + tradeoffs between the two
• Who might be the first people to go to Mars? SpaceX Engineers / NASA astronauts
• Mars collaboration going forward? ESA, JSA, China
• Will others be able to copy/compete with SpaceX?
• Discussion of Skylon’s single stage to orbit liquid hydrogen concept, how it could bring down the cost of transporting payloads into orbit (in the future), and how extra ‘players’ will increase redundance capacity (should something happen with a BFR etc)
• Ion engines and “going the long way around” to Mars, to reach it outside of transfer windows
• 38m - How ion engines work (vs liquid propellant) (loosely explained)
• If ion engines can go 10x faster, how do they break at the other end? Force of air resistance scales with square of speed
• 42m - Why ion engines won’t work within the Earth’s gravity
• SpaceX plans for creating a satellite network to share internet across the world. How it will benefit the world + SpaceX. Including creating communication between Earth + Mars
• 51m - In situ-resource utilisation. Why we want to go to Mars vs building something in empty space.
• Resources available on Mars
• Why asteroid mining from Mars is more appealing than from Earth
• Feasibility of living underground on Mars - including the speculated empty lava tubes
• 1hr - Future Mars governance & future independence
• Self driving cars on Mars
• 1hr 10m - How Mars will help drive new innovation - through necessity
• 1hr 18m - Virtual Reality utilisation on Mars - helping the colony to handle reduced space and movement options.
• 1hr 23m - Gravity on Mars
• 1m 28m - Various rationales for going to Mars
• 1hr 31m - Comparing the discovery of the Americas to Mars exploration

Bill Hargenrader, bestselling author of the Mars Journey series, hosts Andrew Rader, SpaceX mission integrator with a PhD from MIT in human long duration spaceflight, and holder of the title of Canada’s Greatest Know-it-All.

Andrew runs New Horizon Games which designs tabletop card games, including 'Evolve: The Game of Unnatural Selection', and 'Politics: Bribes, Scandals, Strife, and Strategy'. He has over 15 years of game design experience with Australian Design Group.

Andrew is also an author ('Leaving Earth') and Youtuber with over 4 million views (youtube/AndrewRader). He runs a personal Twitter account (@marsrader), a science account (@weird_sci), and a history account (@weird_hist). Find Andrew on Facebook at Facebook/RaderAndrew.

The show and its contents are presented by The Mars Society and co-produced with I Love Mars Media. Find out more at: www.marssociety.org and www.ILoveMars.info

Today’s host is Bill Hargenrader, Cybersecurity and Innovation Strategist, and Founder of the popular I Love Mars Media. Dr. Zubrin is an American aerospace engineer and author of The Case for Mars, best known for his advocacy of the manned exploration of Mars.

He was the driving force behind Mars Direct, a proposal intended to produce significant reductions in the cost and complexity of such a mission. The key idea was to use the Martian atmosphere to produce oxygen, water, and rocket propellant for the surface stay and return journey. He is the President of the Mars Society and Pioneer Astronautics and Pioneer Energy. He has developed a number of concepts for space propulsion and exploration, and is the author of over 200 technical and non-technical papers and five books.

The show and its contents are presented by The Mars Society and co-produced with I Love Mars Media. Find out more at: www.marssociety.org and www.ILoveMars.info