In a mashup episode that combines the formats of The Orbital Mechanics, a great weekly spaceflight podcast, and WeMartians, Jake, Ben and David explore a variety of Mars topics. Delve in to history as we mark the 37th anniversary since Viking 2’s batteries gave out and learn about the spacecraft and its mission. Ben walks us through NASA’s new Road Map to Mars, a flight plan for SLS and Orion leading all the way to the 2030s. Then, we explore SpaceX’s Red Dragon mission and learn about the four candidate landing sites being considered when the Hawthorne-based company makes its first landing on the Red Planet in 2021.
You’ll also hear some of the great segments from The Orbital Mechanics, like #ThisWeekSF, upcoming spaceflight events, and space news. Note: If you are already a subscriber of The Orbital Mechanics, their episode 104 will be mostly the same content with some different introductions, ie. the same episode appears in both feeds.
Links
The Orbital Mechanics (subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher)

Website
Twitter
Patreon

#ThisWeekSF (This Week in SpaceFlight History) – Viking 2

Apollo Applications Program
Voyager Mars (Photo 1 and Photo 2)
Camera System (Weird Photo of imaging team)
Astrobiology Instrument Schematic
Jake’s KSP History Post on Viking 2 (from his past life)

Spaceflight News

NASA’s Mars Road Map (SLS/Orion)
Lunar Orbit Types
Blue Origin Developping Moon Lander

Questions, Comments and Corrections

Reddit – Insight into Falcon 9 Octoweb Construction

Red Dragon & its Landing Sites

Space News Article
Jake’s Landing Site Map

Red X = Crashed/Failed Landing
Green Circle = Successful Landing
Yellow Question Mark = Candidate sites for Mars2020/ExoMars
Space “X” – Red Dragon Landing Site Candidates


Deuteronilus Mensae (Photo 1 & Photo 2)
Phlegra Montes (Photo 1 & Photo 2)
Utopia Planitia (Photo 1 & Photo 2)
Arcadia Planitia (Photo 1 & Photo 2)

WeMartians music is “RetroFuture” and “Electrodoodle” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/