On to Mars

The Weekly Standard ^ | Jan. 31, 2000 | Charles Krauthammer

[Eaker]

yes, we cannot allow chinese dominace in space. Space belongs to america damnit.

EXACTLY

They would just screw it up for the rest of us with all of that freedom they keep spreading around!!

Stay safe; stay armed.
Eaker Freeper Status

[Brett66]

Going to Mars would be cool and all that, but what do we do after we go there? We didn't have an answer to this question after Apollo. The same thing will happen again. We need an economical exploration infrastructure to make routine human planetary exploration possible, flags and footprints aren't going to cut it.

[Monty22]

http://www.moontruth.com/clips/moontruth.mpg

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.."Travel into the future...

...with BUZZ COREY...

...Commander and Chief of the...

...S-P-A-C-E...P-A-T-R-O-L"

See: http://www.SpacePatrol.com

[MHGinTN]

Men are already from Mars. Let's go to Venus ... er, I guess that's too hot a topic.

[Brett66]

So how are we gonna pay for all of this? They made plans to go to Mars after Apollo. How will an effort to go to Mars or any other planet be sustainable on a long-term basis. How do we avoid the post-Apollo syndrome? This also begs the question of NASA's purpose. Should NASA be strictly exploratory or should they be laying the groundwork of long-term habitation and colonization of other planets? Quite honestly NASA doesn't seem to be able come to grips with the whole manifest destiny aspects of what they're engaged in. They should make colonization of other worlds an official mission statement.

[RightWhale]

How will an effort to go to Mars or any other planet be sustainable on a long-term basis.

A self-sustaining settlement on Mars is in the cards since water in abundance has been found there. The trick is to figure out what tonnage of what needs to be launched to Mars to set up the settlement. Then we can see what it will take to get the tonnage to Mars. There will be no shortage of volunteers, even if it is a one-way trip to live on Mars forever.

[Brett66]

With money huh? Ok you convinced me, now can you convince a host of senators like Robert Byrd?

[Brett66]

That reminds me, didn't Zubrin write a book about us sending people to Mars and then congress balked at spending money for the return trip. Basically stranding them there, the Apollo syndrome struck before they even got a chance to lift off of the surface. Sounds pretty realistic actually.

[Theophilus]

If the Moon were made of gold {or name your exotic element/material: platinum, plutonium, diamonds...}, it would not be worth the cost of traveling to get to it. The Moon, Mars, the Asteroids, The Galilean Satellites are all rocks - nothing but rocks. Columbus did not sail to a new world made of nothing but rock, containing nothing but rock, across a desert ocean of acid, poison, lava, withering radiation, insanely hot magnetic belts and not to mention a freakish vacuum in massive ships made of gold paddled tediously with oars of diamonds the size of popsicle sticks.

[eclectic]

The Moon, Mars, the Asteroids, The Galilean Satellites are all rocks - nothing but rocks

What about Uranus? You seem to have all the answers. No need to go to Space indeed, just ask you

[Cincinatus]

Your mind is rooted in the 17th century. The principal "commodity" of a knowledge society is knowledge -- not gold, not platinum, not oil, and not precious gems. And exploration of unknown worlds produces new knowledge. It'll pay off, somehow and someway. And in amounts undreamed of by the greediest of Conquistadores.

[Cincinatus]

What an astonishing video!! I had no idea that they had a set collapse during filming of HBO's "From Earth to the Moon!"

[Theophilus]

Hey I love space, lets send lots of robots (like Voyager - still sending useful data after 25+ years!!!) to explore the very interesting rocks in our solar system, at greatly reduced cost and risk.

[Theophilus]

No, I agree, but the quest for knowledge must have a greater objective than just getting there. The gold that the conquistadores discovered/stole was insignificant when compared with the other forms of wealth that the new world offered. Yet the potential for profit drove the risk and necesscity not discovery will always be the mother of invention. That said, I bet I followed the NEAR mission to Eros more than you.

[Cincinatus]

the quest for knowledge must have a greater objective than just getting there.

True enough, but one cannot "get there" unless one learns how to. Shuttle and ISS are not perfect programs, but we are learning from them -- how NOT to manage an international effort, how to assemble (and make work) big, complex spacecraft in orbit, how to adapt to life in microgravity. All this knowledge has utilitarian value for future exploration.

I'm not going to get into the tired old "let's make space safe for robots" argument. The faith that robots can do anything and everything a human can do is just that -- a religious belief, not an objective scientific assessment.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

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NASA's Griffin says China may reach Moon before US

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1802454/posts

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[Fitzcarraldo]

IMO let's not waste much time or $$$ on the Moon - the arguments that it is essential for defense, or is a particularly important industrial site are flawed. It has not been proven that sufficient water ice (if any) is there to sustain a rocket refueling station for very long. Mars is a suitable target because of its atmosphere, water ice and rich geology of great interest to an important scientific lobby - the biological sciences.