Posted on 01/22/2004 1:35:59 AM PST by ambrose
Mission to Mars is possible as a one-way trip
According to Paul Davis, the Australian philosopher from Astrobiology Center, the main obstacle for fulfilling the plans of subjugating Mars in 2030 will be high expenses. Mars- populating with people can be affordable only under the condition of one-way flights to this planet. The expenses for such expeditions will be reduced twofold if astronauts are required to stay in Mars and not to return to the Earth, wrote in the New York Times Paul Davis, the Australian philosopher from Astrobiology Center, the author of the book ?Fifth Wonder: Research of Arising Life and its Value¦.
Davis wrote that those flying to Mars will never come back. The expenses for fuel for starting the rocket from Mars and flying to the Earth will be too high. A group of scientists or astronauts will be brought to Mars along with hi-tech equipment and small nuclear reactor, and they will be able to produce oxygen, water and food. Every two years when Mars has an optimal orbit, NASA will be able to deliver supplies to the ?colonists¦ and send new astronauts to Mars. This is the only way to maintain existence the human colony on Mars.
The philosopher believes that NASA secretly analyzed such a scenario.
"An American scientist told me that he was trained for flight to the Moon before the Apollo program realization¦, Davis wrote. According to him, the history of research is the history of heroic sacrifice.
"I am working with young people who are ready to go to Mars even on such terms¦, the scientist said. ?However, it would be more reasonable to send more mature people to Mars, those who have the biggest part of his/her life behind. Mars-s attractive power less than on the Earth, strong radiation, hostile environment, difficulties, lack of medical care will produce negative impact to the health of any person". But the first explorers of Mars will fulfill the important task of founding the colony.
Sounds great. I want to see this working on the moon before I trust my life to it.
But the idea of sending unmanned robot ships to carry food and supplies is something to consider, whether or not we call it a one-way trip for the human explorers. We could pre-position everything needed for a couple of years survival, and even pre-position 100% backup, or 300% backup, whether in orbit or in on the ground. When the crew arrived in their ship there could be several shiploads of equipment already there waiting for them. Telemetry could assure the condition of their supplies before they ever leave earth.
If it was me I would want plenty of backup, and the tools for repairs. If it takes 6 months or a year to get parts, you had better have plenty of parts on hand and a machine shop to make what you don't have.
You are not going to go to such lengths just to provide your crew with a Martian retirement home, the point in going is that there is plenty to do, I am convinced they should make subsoil mapping a high priority. That means carrying a lot of specialized equipment along with them. And the tools to fix it.
No one is going to volunteer for a suicide mission, though, and if they would they may not be stable for the long haul in any case. You have to provide a way to get out if everything goes wrong.
Getting back is harder, but hardly impossible. Using a combination of earth orbit rendezvous, mars orbit rendezvous and mars surface rendezvous, we may be able to do it with current launchers, given that we have to get the Russians to launch the crew. Mars direct ascent isn't doable in the forseeable future, but I don't know why you would want to do it that way anyway.
The First Fleet was frighteningly underprepared for the task which faced it. Little was known about the climate, animal or plant life of the land mass, and many of Cook's encounters with the Aborigines had been hostile, at least in part. As Cook said in his diaries,"All they seem'd to want for us was to be gone".
The Fleet consisted mainly of convicts with officers to guard them. There were many more men than women - around four men for every woman - and this caused problems in the settlement for many years.
Few people in the Fleet had any experience of cultivating the land and this, combined with poor soil in the area, lead to the development of farms around Parramatta, but, more seriously, to near starvation in the first years of settlement. Food shortages were severe and the fledgling colony eagerly awaited on the arrival of the Second Fleet in 1790.
The Second Fleet did provide badly needed food and supplies, but created other problems for the new colony. 48 people had died on the voyage of the First Fleet, this had risen to 278 on the Second Fleet voyage. Sickness and disease were so rife, most of those who survived were barely able to walk, the Fleet has come to be known as the 'Death Fleet'.
In spite of the problems, however, the settlement grew, and is now the site of Australia's largest city - Sydney.
[European Discovery and Settlement of Australia]
Oh, I'm not so sure about that. This world is full of all kinds, and I can imagine people like the characters in the film "Contact" being both qualified and willing.
How ironic, as
it was our space program that
convinced some Muslims
that we were living
in the End Times the Quran
prophesied about:
Sura 54 is entitled, "The Moon" and starts right away by giving us the news about the splitting of the moon as a sign of the end of the world. It is interesting to know that of all the available translations of the Quran , it was only Dr. Khalifa's translation that pointed to the fulfillment of this prophecy and pointed exactly to the mathematical miracle of the Quran and its relation to the splitting of the moon.
Let us focus on verse [54:1]: “The moon has split and the hour has drawn closer”
Here is Dr.Khalifa’s footnote on the verse is very interesting and enlightening: “ This important sign of the approaching end of the world came to pass in 1969 when humans landed on the moon and brought pieces of the moon to earth. At the same time, God’s mathematical Miracle was being gradually unveiled. Traditional Muslims opposed it, since it exposed the fallacy of their practices.”
[SPLITTING OF THE MOON, A MIRACLE OF QURAN]
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