We'll never go to Mars (house of representatives, Congress, ethic, Reagan)
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We’ll never leave the cave. We’ll never control fire. We’ll never create a round thing to make transportation faster. We’ll never learn to master our environment. We’ll never learn to sharpen rocks for hunting. We’ll never use our mastery of fire and knowledge of elements to make iron, steel or any other metal. We’ll never learn to grow crops. We’ll never use agriculture to create permanent establishments where we create writing, math, or science. We’ll never create flying things. We’ll never create horseless carriages. We’ll never go to the moon. And we’ll definitely most certainly NEVER go to mars.
We’ll never leave the cave. We’ll never control fire. We’ll never create a round thing to make transportation faster. We’ll never learn to master our environment. We’ll never learn to sharpen rocks for hunting. We’ll never use our mastery of fire and knowledge of elements to make iron, steel or any other metal. We’ll never learn to grow crops. We’ll never use agriculture to create permanent establishments where we create writing, math, or science. We’ll never create flying things. We’ll never create horseless carriages. We’ll never go to the moon. And we’ll definitely most certainly NEVER go to mars.
Actually, none of those things were ever said, except by me when I said we'll never go to mars.
But, still, we'll never go to mars. Or any other planet. Or the stars.
CAN it be done?..... Sure. Probably.
WILL it be done?.... No. Robots like the ones there now will suffice.
We’ll never leave the cave. We’ll never control fire. We’ll never create a round thing to make transportation faster. We’ll never learn to master our environment. We’ll never learn to sharpen rocks for hunting. We’ll never use our mastery of fire and knowledge of elements to make iron, steel or any other metal. We’ll never learn to grow crops. We’ll never use agriculture to create permanent establishments where we create writing, math, or science. We’ll never create flying things. We’ll never create horseless carriages. We’ll never go to the moon. And we’ll definitely most certainly NEVER go to mars.
Many of those things took thousands of years to develop. Will we be going to Mars in a thousand years? If we are still around as an advanced society and haven't "reset" ourselves to the Iron Age, probably so. It's a crapshoot because we will likely have a completely different world order, world map, social customs, economic models, etc. But will we be going to Mars within the next 100 years? That's much more doubtful in my mind.
What's the point of going somewhere just to exist in a hermetically sealed capsule?
I think people are pretty much agreed that it would not be "for life" but more for a couple of weeks or a month or two, until it's time to return home.
I think people are pretty much agreed that it would not be "for life" but more for a couple of weeks or a month or two, until it's time to return home.
The trick is we CAN'T go for a week or two! If we go we have to stay for three months.
That's because the window to launch a ship from earth to mars (or vice versa ) is only open for a few weeks every 26 months. After all, it doesn't make much sense to chase a planet that is receding; it is much, much easier to catch one that is getting closer.
Yeah. Nine months to get there, three months there and nine months to get back.
So the reality is, once you arrive on mars you are stuck there for about 3 months. No matter what goes wrong. And most of that time a radio transmission between the planets will take 20 minutes, one way, because your sister planet is on the other side of the sun.
The trick is we CAN'T go for a week or two! If we go we have to stay for three months.
That's because the window to launch a ship from earth to mars (or vice versa ) is only open for a few weeks every 26 months. After all, it doesn't make much sense to chase a planet that is receding; it is much, much easier to catch one that is getting closer.
Yeah. Nine months to get there, three months there and nine months to get back.
So the reality is, once you arrive on mars you are stuck there for about 3 months. No matter what goes wrong. And most of that time a radio transmission between the planets will take 20 minutes, one way, because your sister planet is on the other side of the sun.
All good points, which is why they will likely establish an orbital station first.
A well stocked station, with rotating habitat, hydroponics, tons of water and food and medicines, and lots of spare parts, would be the ideal way station for exploratory trips to the surface.
When you’re that far from Earth, you’re going to want redundancy e.g. multiple landers, emergency medical supplies for things like appendicitis or even an unexpected pregnancy (the first Martian?) and plenty of creature comforts to stave off depression and boredom of extreme isolation.
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We may have mining operations on Mars, and even the occasional vacation spot, though. Still, I think we'll have rotating orbital habitats around the planet, in "aerosynchronous" orbit, with an elevator down to the surface.
My more optimistic plan would be for space habitats in the asteroid belt despite it being over twice as far away. Numerous advantages: lower gravity to cut down on launch costs, much easier access to valuable minerals and other precious metals, habitat itself is easier to make human-habitable than a planet or even a large portion thereof.
We may have mining operations on Mars, and even the occasional vacation spot, though. Still, I think we'll have rotating orbital habitats around the planet, in "aerosynchronous" orbit, with an elevator down to the surface.
My more optimistic plan would be for space habitats in the asteroid belt despite it being over twice as far away. Numerous advantages: lower gravity to cut down on launch costs, much easier access to valuable minerals and other precious metals, habitat itself is easier to make human-habitable than a planet or even a large portion thereof.
I think the likely sweet spot for off-world habitats is going to be somewhere not too far from Earth, perhaps in a stable L-5 orbit.
The thing is, near the Earth is becoming too cluttered and full of space junk. So you will want to be away from that region, but not much farther out than the Moon, to keep down the expense and risks of longer space journeys. Let the robots venture out to the asteroids and bring back mined materials.
There will need to be a general rule of thumb: never be more than a day away from some station or habitat. Worst case scenario, you could get in your space suit and jet there in a matter of hours or a day or two, if you have enough oxygen & water. Always assume that your life support systems could fail at any moment and you will need to abandon ship.
With that in mind, going to Mars is going to probably involve multiple stages: the aforementioned robotic missions to establish the orbital station and start building a habitat on the surface, long before humans get there.
When humans finally do make the hop to Mars, they'll need some redundancy: not one ship, but two. Not one crew, but two. Enough room on each ship to accommodate both crews, and tons of supplies, fuel, food, medicine, equipment. They just push off together from Earth orbit and travel as a pair, one in front of the other (the one in front will absorb the blows from debris & meteors, so should have a huge shield).
When they get there, one will dock to the orbital station while the other maintains a separate orbit nearby, in case of catastrophic explosion or contagious virus or whatever. If a meteorite takes out the station, one or both ships *might* survive.
All of this contingency planning of course will have been done long in advance. Beyond that, we have to accept that space is an incredibly hostile and dangerous place, and accidents and tragedies are bound to happen.
Actually, none of those things were ever said, except by me when I said we'll never go to mars.
But, still, we'll never go to mars. Or any other planet. Or the stars.
CAN it be done?..... Sure. Probably.
WILL it be done?.... No. Robots like the ones there now will suffice.
I think you are right. The cost, if truly known, is prohibitive with very little benefit. Plus, there is no reason to send a human to Mars when our technology allows us to sit on our butts here and have robots do the work and report back. The only thing that drives us to send humans to the Moon or Mars is vanity.
Somebody will go back to the Moon just to do it again. Mars is something quite different.
The FFA is being sued by numerous environmental groups. The groups charge the FAA did not do adequate pre-launch review of all the environmental considerations before allowing the launch of SpaceX. LINK!
Frankly, I did not know the FAA's approval was required. But here were are, headed to court. There are all sorts of damages claimed. Evidently there was even a fire started.
These groups can never be satisfied. I don't know that they will succeed in stopping all future super-heavy launches, but that is what they want to do.
Environmental groups have stopped oil drilling, dam building, nuclear power, and probably a bunch of things I have not listed.
Will this end up being the reason humans never go to mars?
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