Ask Slashdot: Technical Advice For a (Fictional) Space Mission?

An anonymous reader writes "I'm just starting to put together the pieces for a fictional story about a space mission. To put it briefly, I would like to give believability to the story: probably set a few years ahead, just enough for the launching of the first colony in the solar system, but with the known challenges posed by the current technology. Is anyone up for a little technical advice on space travel? A few quick questions: As for the destination, the moon and Mars are the obvious choices, but what else would make sense? How long would it take to get there? What could be the goals of the mission? Any events or tasks that could punctuate an otherwise predictably boring long trip? Any possible sightseeing for beautiful VFX shots? What would be the crew?"

Do your homework for you?

[HFShadow]

So you want us to write a story for you? Isn't this the point of you writing it?

Re:Do your homework for you?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, this may be one of the worst "Ask Slashdot" I've seen in a really long time.

I've started writing a few months ago as a career change because of health issues. Research is part of writing, what he's doing now isn't research, he's just asking to be given everything. I don't know how he'll manage to write anything with that attitude. That may sound harsh, but he or she needs to read on the topic, do some research, build up ideas, and then ask people if those ideas seem interesting or not, plausible or not, etc.

Don't let stuff work as advertised ...

[perpenso]

I would like to give believability to the story

Let things break. Let things prematurely wear out due to the extremely hostile environment, extreme temperature swings, etc. Let things fail to function as advertised by the manufacturer, or some environment issue that was overlooked because of our limited experience in space. Apollo 13 may be a little too extreme but do some research on the day to day maintenance and surprises of the Mir space station.

Look back to the original Alien movie (1979?). On the upper decks of the spacecraft Nostromo (?) officers were dealing with computers, navigation, communications, science, etc. On the lower decks a couple of guys were using wrenches to deal with the plumbing. I always thought that was a nice touch of realism. When we go to Mars the most important member of the crew will often be the mechanic.

Only "a few years?"

[tomhudson]

probably set a few years ahead, just enough for the launching of the first colony in the solar system, but with the known challenges posed by the current technology.

The "known challenges" aren't technological, but social (economic and political). Unless you posit some global threat that forces people to "get their act together", you'll need to set it at least a generation in the future.

Even the certainty of a killer asteroid won't do it with this lot!

Re:Don't let stuff work as advertised ...

[Anonymous Coward]

On the contrary, make technology better, fewer moving/replaceable parts, focus more on the mission and reason for it instead of drowning the reader in technical details.
In the future, humans will be either nimble hands for repairs or passengers. Pilots will be a dead breed.

Remember that some concepts will still hold true even hundreds of years from now, if you want to explore another planet you won't build some anti-gravitational vehicle, but lots of simple drones seeded in the atmosphere, see technology today and technology 50 years ago, and you'll be able to guess a little how things will evolve.
Supermaterials, genetically engineered food, why take loads of vegetables when a few GM seeds and nutrients are more than enough. And so on.
If you're thinking of a long term mission, look at sailors that work on ships and especially submarines, they have a particular mindset. That would be the best start. Ship engineering, you're going a long way from home, the ship doesn't just have spare parts, but has every system in double with redundancies, most parts are interchangeable, just like real ships. Honestly, space faring is closer to the navy than airforce.

And as some people keep saying, look at the social environment, times are changing, and in 20-30 years, I really don't think we'll call most countries democracies anymore.

Re:Do your homework for you?

[theshowmecanuck]

There are no bonus points at the end of the ride for doing things the hard way. Research is research. You are being silly if you think it is noble not to ask questions or survey groups of people. Would you chastise a Business/Systems Analyst if they asked questions about how the business worked from SMEs and users? Of course not, it is part of researching. A very good research technique is interviewing and/or surveying others who are experts or who have more knowledge on the topic than you do. This is what this guy is doing. So don't get all uppity because this guy is exploiting an avenue of research that you didn't. And no he is not asking you or anyone here to write the story, so people here need to stop exaggerating this. He is trying to get help in creating a believable context. If you could prove that this is his only form of research you might have a case. In any case, good luck on your writing anyway.