Hi! Roger,

On 06/23/2016 10:01 AM, you wrote:

 PQ>> NASA wants to do a return mission, using the 'battlestar galactica'
 PQ>> methodology. Which requires a humoungous effort & budget.

 RN> What do they propose powering it with?

The naming is referencing the scale of operations.  Both the Mare One ships
and NASA's will use standard chemical rockets.

Mars One wanted originally to use existing (or upgraded) Apollo-type
hardware.  They couldn't get their stuff together, financially-speaking.

Otherwise they had a viable plan using cheap existing hardware, and a
timetable of roughly 2013-2015/2016 for their first missions.  Yep, their
first unmanned ship should have landed one or two years ago, and ought to
have been manufacturing oxygen, water & fuel for the return mission
this last year.  BTW, 2016 sees Mars at its closest to Earth for the last
decade.

Mars One is based on a proposal for an original Mars Direct mission. Check
out any EwwToob vids about Robert Zubrin (The Case For Mars or anything
that mentions "Mars direct", or maybe "Mars
Underground"). (Totally unrelated but if you get a chance, check out
his "Transorbital Railroad" video.  It's a blast!)

Conversely, NASA wants to take everything (food, oxygen, water & fuel).
 Also, the crew number is essentially doubled.  Plus they plan a lot of EVA
around another purpose-built station in LEO, to build their 'mother ship'. 
Once in orbit around Mars there will be a lot of EVA and shuttle/rendezvous
events getting to & from the surface, with a reduced time on planet
schedule (compared with Mars Direct).  Meanwhile NASA's timetable is...
"oh, maybe after 2025 we might get something going".

I haven't checked recently, but Mars One is already in the early stages of
garnering industry to provide hardware, while their first batch of
cosmonaut crews are in-training.  All the basics have been worked out with
a lot of R&D (on how to produce fuel, water & air, and, living
& working in the various crew cabins & vehicles) having been done
by the Mars Direct/Mars Society brain trust.  Since it's a private
operation, they need more financing.  Their plan is to have a colony
established on Mars _by_ 2026-ish.

Cheers,
Paul.

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