| doc mcb | 04 Mar 2025 3:31 p.m. PST |
link If it can send a colony to Mars it can put an armored division anywhere on the globe. |
 ochoin  | 04 Mar 2025 3:45 p.m. PST |
I think the key word in your post was "if". YouTube link Perhaps said soldiers could take a Tesla. Oh, wait a minute: link Might be better to walk. |
| John the OFM | 04 Mar 2025 4:04 p.m. PST |
Bad 1950s science fiction. |
| Micman | 04 Mar 2025 5:52 p.m. PST |
Well they would have to completely redesign Starship to be able to transport a tank and then deploy it after landing. There were some interesting designs suggested in the 70's. Looked like some of the BattleTech dropships. Also give some thought to defending them as they are in flight. They are basically flying like a ballistic missile, but has to slow down when landing, instead of crashing into its target. It would be a lovely target for most ABM systems. |
| SBminisguy | 04 Mar 2025 6:12 p.m. PST |
Micman +1, IIRC there was a 1990s DOD "what if" paper from the SDIO that used SSTOs for rapid intervention with platoons of SpecOps – launch from CONUS to orbital refueling stop, landing at DMZ target zone on Earth, launch back to orbital refueling depot and then landing in CONUS. |
| emckinney | 05 Mar 2025 11:52 a.m. PST |
Take it from someone who has licked the first Falcon 9 to recover: this guy is laughably ignorant of landing requirements. The fuel load needed to land with a heavy payload is staggering. |
| doc mcb | 05 Mar 2025 1:51 p.m. PST |
The rockets for NASA's Apollo program were basically the same as the ICBMs. There is no real distinction between civilian and military functions. The presumption of the OP is that Musk develops a capability to get massive amounts of people and material to MARS. GIVEN THAT, the military applications are obvious. One may well be skeptical of the Mars assumption, but isn't it just a matter of time, assuming the will? |
| ochoin | 05 Mar 2025 3:25 p.m. PST |
A matter of time…like most sci-fi.
We could equally consider Star Trek-like transporters. |
| doc mcb | 05 Mar 2025 4:45 p.m. PST |
Ochoin, do you think we will see men on Mars in the next decade? |
| ochoin | 05 Mar 2025 6:12 p.m. PST |
I prefer not to stoop to baseless speculation. |
| John the OFM | 06 Mar 2025 1:23 p.m. PST |
One may well be skeptical of the Mars assumption, but isn't it just a matter of time, assuming the will? Ah, the Triumph of the Will! Or, as Tom Lehrer sings in "Fight Fiercely, Harvard!" "Albeit they, possess the skill Nonetheless we have the will!" link
I designed a bunch of military vehicles in the 6th Grade. Most were as plausible as this.
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| Tortorella | 06 Mar 2025 8:27 p.m. PST |
Well, the latest Space X test flight did not go well today. Mars flight may be delayed a few decades. |
| doc mcb | 07 Mar 2025 10:33 a.m. PST |
Tort, read Boorstin's chapters on Prince Henry and the Portuguese in THE DISCOVERERS. No setback is permanent nor even significant in that sort of linear exploration project. |
| Tortorella | 07 Mar 2025 12:11 p.m. PST |
Doc, notice I used the word "delayed". This does not mean permanent. Delayed is likely. I read Boorstin a while ago. But I expect it will be quite some time before anyone gets to Mars…given the issues coming to a boil here. |
| doc mcb | 07 Mar 2025 1:36 p.m. PST |
Where there's a whip there's a way! Or, to quote Burgoyne's artillery commander, where a goat can go, a man can go, and where a man can go, he can drag a gun. |
| John the OFM | 07 Mar 2025 2:07 p.m. PST |
Mules and men aren't the same as a huge rocket that blows up all the time. "Dear Mrs McCauley. I regret to tell you that your son got blowed up real good when he and his entire company were deploying to Communist Oggaboogaland and his unreliable rocket exploded. There were no survivors." Doc, please stop singing "High Hopes". It's like telling Stephen Hawking that he could climb Mount Everest, if he really put his mind to it. |
| 35thOVI | 07 Mar 2025 3:50 p.m. PST |
Yeah Doc! NASA never had any explosions! What?…. Oh 🤯! OK Thanks …. sorry Doc….. never mind. 😉 |
