Should trip to Mars be on NASA's agenda?

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Most of us old enough can remember that remarkable week 40 years ago, when the world held its breath as the United States fulfilled a mission championed by the late Pres. John F. Kennedy -- to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade of the 1960s. On July 20, 1969, that step was taken by astronaut Neil Armstrong.

I think yes. One country is going to do it one way or the other eventually. I don’t see the advantage for us to let the Chinese colonise Mars.

I’d rather see loads of money spent on something like permanent presence on Mars than on socialised health care and other dead end projects on Earth.

Well, yeah. That's the way I see it. The Chinese and later maybe the Indians (maybe they will have their own space race between the two of them). I just don't see why we should let the Chinese come from nothing (as far as space goes) and have it.

I'm not sure about the moon. I hear some astronauts arguing it's a waste of time. Could be. But I think there are enough rich people on the Earth who would pay a lot of money to go and stay on the moon just as a way of showing how much more exclusive they were than everyone else. I mean, there's no better way to exclude everyone else than to go somewhere they simply cannot afford to go- a different world.

Maybe we could do the moon privately (joint private/Russian venture) and let NASA chase after Mars. Each moon mission would carry a billionaire who paid his own ticket to go up for a week or so and help construct a 'moon hotel'. The ones who paid and worked on it could maybe be part owners (and even a small % ownership could reap massive rewards later for your descendents). Gradually the thing would get bigger and bigger. Etc.

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