Musk: SpaceX will put a man on Mars in 2025!

[DontSayBanana]

Ah, I skimmed it. Thought he was talking about the problem of bringing enough fuel to get off Mars once you land there.

You could simply build a ship in orbit. Make multiple launches. The individual parts of the ship, the fuel stocks and the supplies can be made much larger that way.

Way to sidestep the problem of generating enough thrust and acceleration for escape velocity in virtually nil atmosphere.  Conventional rocketry relies on the Earth's atmosphere to break free of it; that's a totally different problem with the Martian atmosphere.

[sbr]

They have no plans to return anyone from Mars.  It is very clearly being advertised as a one way trip.

[grumbler]

Way to sidestep the problem of generating enough thrust and acceleration for escape velocity in virtually nil atmosphere.  Conventional rocketry relies on the Earth's atmosphere to break free of it; that's a totally different problem with the Martian atmosphere.

Wait... what?

[jimmy olsen]

Ah, I skimmed it. Thought he was talking about the problem of bringing enough fuel to get off Mars once you land there.

You could simply build a ship in orbit. Make multiple launches. The individual parts of the ship, the fuel stocks and the supplies can be made much larger that way.

Way to sidestep the problem of generating enough thrust and acceleration for escape velocity in virtually nil atmosphere.  Conventional rocketry relies on the Earth's atmosphere to break free of it; that's a totally different problem with the Martian atmosphere.

Is this a joking reference to NY Times editorial that ripped Goddard and said rockets would never work in space, and that the Times officially retracted after Apollo 11 landed on the Moon?