Sorry realize I misread the question - you were talking about fuel for lift off from Mars surface.
Nobody has yet created a self sustaining system that's even close to 100% self sustaining, that would work in space, certainly not tested in space.
If we had one, it would hugely reduce the amount of supplies needed for the ISS and make it possible to run it at a fraction of its present day cost.
That's why I somewhat doubt Mars One or SpaceX, or anyone else will succeed in creating such a system, at least so quickly - why can they achieve something so easily that defeated the designers of the ISS? And how can it be space hardened and proved to work with humans on board in anything like the timescale they have in mind? (Things that work fine on the drawing board and even in tests with humans on the Earth can fail once you have humans inside in space conditions).
Anyway, so the rest of this answers the question, is it practical at all to send humans to the distance of Mars (orbit or surface) with ISS type technology, the only type we have right now. I thought that was your question.
Since it's off topic, I've posted it to my blog instead here:
Is it practical to send humans to distance of Mars orbit (say) using technology of the ISS by Robert Walker on Mars and Space
But is kind of relevant, interesting enough to mention the calculation I did there.
Nobody has yet created a self sustaining system that's even close to 100% self sustaining, that would work in space, certainly not tested in space.
If we had one, it would hugely reduce the amount of supplies needed for the ISS and make it possible to run it at a fraction of its present day cost.
That's why I somewhat doubt Mars One or SpaceX, or anyone else will succeed in creating such a system, at least so quickly - why can they achieve something so easily that defeated the designers of the ISS? And how can it be space hardened and proved to work with humans on board in anything like the timescale they have in mind? (Things that work fine on the drawing board and even in tests with humans on the Earth can fail once you have humans inside in space conditions).
Anyway, so the rest of this answers the question, is it practical at all to send humans to the distance of Mars (orbit or surface) with ISS type technology, the only type we have right now. I thought that was your question.
Since it's off topic, I've posted it to my blog instead here:
Is it practical to send humans to distance of Mars orbit (say) using technology of the ISS by Robert Walker on Mars and Space
But is kind of relevant, interesting enough to mention the calculation I did there.
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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