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gezzam
SFN Regular
Australia
751 Posts |
 Posted - 01/09/2004 : 04:27:20
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Just quickly before I head off to work....
Buoyed by a successful landing on Mars by a robot explorer, US President George Bush plans a major announcement on space policy next week that envisions sending Americans back to the moon and ultimately to Mars.
More at US plans to send Americans to Mars
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Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from.
Al Franken |
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furshur
SFN Regular
USA
1536 Posts |
 Posted - 01/09/2004 : 07:05:40 [Permalink]
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I fully support NASA and the exploration of Mars. The idea of going back to the moon is great. The idea of sending a team of humans to Mars at this point is folly. The cost of such an undertaking would be unbelievable, and our current success rate at landing on Mars is not too hot. For us to go to Mars we would need a completely new space craft design (chemical rockets ain't going to get it).
Maybe we have figured out how that there flying saucer in area 51 works! |
If I knew then what I know now then I would know more now than I know. |
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Sea Sorbust
Skeptic Friend
USA
68 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2004 : 10:22:06 [Permalink]
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Great bunch of stories, gezzam. Thanks.
It is fur shore, furshur, that a womaned mission to Mars would be expensive but how much would a surprise asteroid strike cost in lost lives and property? A base on Mars should greatly help tracking the little buggers so that we can intercept them before they hit Earth or the Moon.
The experience that we gain by putting a permanent, self-sustaining base or colony on the Moon should bring those costs down substantially, ImHO.
Go, Bush! Go!  |
"This is the forest primeval...."  |
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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2004 : 12:14:11 [Permalink]
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Didn't Daddy Bush propose going back to the moon?
Anywho, I really don't think there is enough national will to pay the dime for going to Mars. I, also, believe that the money could be better spent developing a near earth space platform.
My guess is that the motivation for this announcement is political. It is, afterall, an election year. |
"We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin' out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country." Dubya in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 9/6/2004
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Sea Sorbust
Skeptic Friend
USA
68 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2004 : 12:29:14 [Permalink]
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The real question, Tim, is can we trust them to follow through on their proposed plans? Am still smarting over the duplicity in the promise to reduce and eventually eliminate chemicals which are implicated in depleating the ozone layer. Those promises turned out to be a great fraud: A politicians' version of the bullfighter's red cape...."Hey, big fat bull! Don't worry about me and my wittsy sword; watch the horrible, evil red cape!!" 
Think that you might be wrong about the public's interest in planetary colonizations. What they are utterly UNinterested in is some vague "space station" filled with scientists doing who-knows-what.
BTW, how do you 'mine' water on a near-Earth space platform? Without water, nothing is sustainable for the long-term. |
"This is the forest primeval...." |
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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - 01/10/2004 : 03:45:41 [Permalink]
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Posted by Sea Sorbustquote:
What they are utterly UNinterested in is some vague "space station" filled with scientists doing who-knows-what.
Sea, you very well may be correct. I realize that from the polls, most of the people that support space exploration also are very partial to the romantic notion of manned space flight. Afterall, what's more interesting, watching the dust trail of a tiny probe, or seeing real people playing round ball on another world?
To be honest, I'd rather watch the basketball game on Io.
Unfortunately, a manned mission to Mars at this time is wildly expensive, especially to a society living off of its' grandchildren's inheritance, and it's exceedingly time consuming and incredibly dangerous. Plus, it carries with it the added stigma of being scientifically anemic. Survival of the crew would, of course, take precedence over a high learning curve.
To believe that we can make a ten year commitment to such a project and then actually follow through is sheer fantasy. There is no more cold war to drive us, politcs change with the wind direction, and there are no immediate rewards required by our avarice driven society. You said yourself that they can't be trusted to follow through.
Finally, I would not care to wager the future of space exploration on such an ambitious, (and glory hungry), pusuit when real advancements in real science can be made much simpler, and cheaper, closer to our own little rock.
quote:
BTW, how do you 'mine' water on a near-Earth space platform? Without water, nothing is sustainable for the long-term.
Actually, this question should be rephrased to ask how could we mine anything in space without a near-earth platform?
I don't see the drawbacks to learning how to live, to work, and to prosper closer to home before we set out planet hopping with no real plan, nor any idea of what we're actually doing. Sure, manned missions make for good TV, but I honestly don't believe that's what the space program should be about. I remember being glued to the television throughout the odyssey of Apollo 13, but in reality the movie had better production values. |
"We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin' out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country." Dubya in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 9/6/2004
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Maverick
Skeptic Friend
Sweden
385 Posts |
Posted - 01/31/2004 : 03:34:35 [Permalink]
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| I'm very excited at this, and I really hope it will come true. I believe the return to the moon very well could happen, but we will have to wait for a while before we can go to Mars. I see that they are interested at cooperating with other space agencies as well, which in my opinion is a good idea. |
"Life is but a momentary glimpse of the wonder of this astonishing universe, and it is sad to see so many dreaming it away on spiritual fantasy." -- Carl Sagan |
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