Why go to mars?

[lAmebAdger]

Re: Why go to mars?

"I suggest we solve one problem at a time."

... the smaller the group, the more viable this option is... regrettably


also, maybe we can compare this to how europeans fled the continent to escape problems they couldn't solve... and the US became of it

not saying part of us should abandon the problems here and happily bounce over to mars


let's first see what the next few decades (according to the clip amra posted) will bring...

speculation: we will make progress, but not much

 

[TheOgreMan]

Re: Why go to mars?

Fleeing Europe and establishing the US was by no means easy, cheap, or safe. The US has been involved in numerous wars, created conflict on nearly every continent on the planet, and in modern times potentially crippled the world economy for a time. They solved one problem, yes, but created a cascade of new ones.

I'm not saying that is not an option, or that my suggestion is better or easier (it isn't), but maybe it's time we try a different approach to solve problems so that all of humanity might benefit?

 

[Garbad_the_Weak]

Re: Why go to mars?

We are already throwing tons of hopeandchange at those problems, laying utter waste to the backbone of our prosperity in the process. NASA's budget is ~8 billion, a tiny 0.02% of the 3.6 trillion federal budget obama is pimping atm.

 

[Johnny]

Re: Why go to mars?

hopeandchange

Republican tears cool the reactors.

 

[Garbad_the_Weak]

Re: Why go to mars?

Republican tears cool the reactors.

But unfortunately, hippie hopes don't put bread on the table. =/

 

[Amra]

Re: Why go to mars?

We are already throwing tons of hopeandchange at those problems, laying utter waste to the backbone of our prosperity in the process. NASA's budget is ~8 billion, a tiny 0.02% of the 3.6 trillion federal budget obama is pimping atm.

I'm splitting hairs here but to be accurate the budget is about 18 billion.

The proposed FY2010 nasa budget is 18.7 billion which includes an additional "hopeandchange" of 1.0 billion.

I wish the United States was not mothballing the STS.

 

[TheOgreMan]

Re: Why go to mars?

We are already throwing tons of hopeandchange at those problems, laying utter waste to the backbone of our prosperity in the process. NASA's budget is ~8 billion, a tiny 0.02% of the 3.6 trillion federal budget obama is pimping atm.

I by no means want to lessen the budget of NASA or say that we don't need it. But until we can get Earthly problems more under control I don't think we should finance a true Mars mission.

Russians estimate that the total cost of Mir is ~3billion. This is an older estimate and it is spread around something like 23 countries. But Mir is by no means capable or ready for inter-planetary flight, much less possibly landing on another planet. The cost of something like that is beyond what I could think. Being conservative, I'd wager 50+ billion USD (I am not an accountant, I'm probably off). That's a lot of money that could be put towards something else.

I do think we should get there eventually. There are many resources that are probably there which could benefit a lot of people. I just don't think we should invest in that just yet.

 

[Ash Housewares]

Re: Why go to mars?

PEOPLE!
lol wtf?
is this thread about supreme commander or sc?
Its like half of the thread you are discussing reporting people and the other half rts games?

every thread turns into video games because ppl fail at offtopic

and hemo is crazy, QQ moar crazy kid

we dont behave much differently from any other species when it becomes overpopulated

 

[Amra]

Re: Why go to mars?

Russians estimate that the total cost of Mir is ~3billion. This is an older estimate and it is spread around something like 23 countries. But Mir is by no means capable or ready for inter-planetary flight, much less possibly landing on another planet.

Mir? What are you talking about? :scratchchin: Mir was a space station that was brought back down in 2001.

 

[TheOgreMan]

Re: Why go to mars?

Bah! Really? I guess I'm behind on my current events. So the 3 billion estimate is probably still spot on, but the damn thing is gone. My point really still stands: Mir was not interplanetary ready and cost 3 billion, a real cruiser would be way more than that.

It's the International Space Station up there now, isn't it? I thought they were one and the same. :blush:

 

[Amra]

Re: Why go to mars?

It's the International Space Station up there now, isn't it? I thought they were one and the same. :blush:

The International Space Station is up there now and is nearly complete. They just added the final solar arrays. Mir was a Russian space station (although the space shuttle did dock with it about 12 times I think). In either case neither was designed for or capable of travel beyond low earth orbit.

A mission to Mars will most likely require several "cargo" launches into space where components could be assembled together prior to a trans martian trajectory.

 

[Dondrei]

Re: Why go to mars?

People went outside and watched Mir come down. In the places where it was visible.

 

[TheOgreMan]

Re: Why go to mars?

It wasn't until very recently that I started paying attention to any news or current events. My new job isn't very demanding so I have a lot of time to peruse the internet.

 

[Amra]

Re: Why go to mars?

It wasn't until very recently that I started paying attention to any news or current events. My new job isn't very demanding so I have a lot of time to peruse the internet.

This site has lots of history.

This one is not bad to keep up on some current events. Although to get the advanced stuff there you have to pay.

Top level overview here.

Lots more if you are interested.

 

[BobCox2]

Re: Why go to mars?

OT current news
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/03/does-us-have-th.html
Does U.S. Have the 'Right Stuff' to Land an Astronaut on Mars? A Galaxy Classic