Posted on 09/24/2007 10:41:14 AM PDT by Names Ash Housewares
NASA aims to put a man on Mars by 2037, the administrator of the US space agency indicated here Monday. This year marks the half-century of the space age ushered in by the October 1957 launch of the Sputnik-1 by the then Soviet Union, NASA administrator Michael Griffin noted.
In 2057, the centenary of the space era, "we should be celebrating 20 years of man on Mars," Griffin told an international astronautics congress in this southern Indian city where he outlined NASA's future goals.
The international space station being built in orbit and targeted for completion by 2010 would provide a "toehold in space" from where humanity can travel first to the moon and then to Mars, Griffin said.
"We are looking at the moon and Mars to build a civilisation for tomorrow and after that," Griffin added in his remarks at a conference session attended by heads of the world's space agencies.
President George W. Bush in 2004 announced an ambitious plan for the US to return to the moon by 2020 and use it as a stepping stone for manned missions to Mars and beyond.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
And who knows, maybe a breakthrough will make it sooner.
The disappointing thing is that it hasn’t been done already - we do have the technology.
Nixon should’ve announced the project in a nationally broadcast speech the night of 7/20/69, but he was so jealous of the Kennedys that he couldn’t bring himself to give even the hint of perceived approval of the space program in general.
I have actually come around to concluding that we don’t really need manned space flight.
It is much easier and cheaper to explore with unmanned flights.
I don’t see the point of sending humans just to say we can.
Thankfully these people weren’t in charge of the Apollo program or we’d still be waiting for one small step.
It’s eyewash. Without the funding (and it will dry up) we’ll never get there unless we discover life or signs of former life there. If we do that, all bets are off. In fact if that happened we might be there before 2037.
2037-the man they choose for this mission likely hasn’t even been born yet.
What? Not a woman?
I hope Al Sharpton’s still with us to make the trip.
He can begin his own race on Mars. What an opportunity!
The point of exploring space at all if we're not going to establish civilization in space is lacking.
I’ll be 60 - so if all’s well I’ll be around to see it!
I only hope to finish paying off my house by 2037!!!!!!!
I really think we could have a man on the way to mars in 10-15 years.
I just don’t know what good it will do.
ping
Scientifically it’s probably possible depending on what volatiles exist on Mars.
It would be nice, but considering the current system can’t launch in rain and gets damaged by foam insulation, I have my doubts.
Well, they did say “man”. Maybe they’ll let him bring his mom along, though.
We do, more or less. The basic issue is that there's no compelling reason to go to Mars. Given the enormity of the expense, and the fact that unmanned probes can do vastly more research than astronauts can for only a tiny fraction of the cost, it's not surprising that NASA sees no hurry in sending a manned mission. There may be political reasons for sending Americans to Mars, but there are not scientific reasons.
Just kidding of course but they need to get with the program. Going where no “person” has ever gone before. ;^)
But we don't have the space infrastructure, and thus no meaningful reason for going there. There are a lot of much cheaper, easier, and safer ways to collect rocks, than to send meat people to pick them up.
A manned Mars mission really doesn't make sense except as an excuse to build significant space infrastructure which could be used more generally to support space activities.
As usual, the best approach is not flashy or exciting: it's just plugging along and building capability as you go. It's attainable that way, and even more affordable.
Politically, the mission is probably screwed either way: a crash program would be too expensive. A sustained program is a budget item that would be under constant pressure from those wanting to raid it for other purposes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.