To Mars!

[ex_MGB]

I am most interested in the groups thoughts regarding President Bush's ideas in regards to establishing a station on the Moon with the idea of utilizing that as a springboard to Mars.

BTW, my pet project is to establish a network of smart super-highways in America (100 mph+ speed limits). I doubt we could do that as well as put a man on Mars.

Hmmm... perhaps we could make a movie instead of what it would be like to drive on such a road and live vicariously?

 

[Toy4x4]

My opinion is: We know Mars there and what it looks like...lets spend the money more wisely here at home.

 

[Al]

Just a pipe dream. Making the agency look good (for a change) and using the success to talk about a very ambitious misson to moon (and mars

). I'm a Bush supporter. But he gets an 'F" on that dribble by me. I'd bet on the Chinese

 

[Pablo]

I think the abandoning of the space (beyond Earth) explorations is clear signal that we choked and choked big.

Expensive, hell yes! A dream. Maybe....but most things good began as good dreams.

I'm not even saying we need to do it alone or need to do it immediately, but we must have a goal. Call me an airhead, but I remember the moon landing as an 11 year old, as if it were yesterday. I later worked on satellite programs (mostly GPS, but some other classifieds) and felt at least one tiny part of the pride!

So what are these other things we should waste our money on? Oh yeah the debt....OK start paying that back first.

 

[Ryan00TJ]

Bush want's to go to Mars to find some Weapons of Mass Destruction! LOL I heard that one on a news channel recently.

 

[Last_Z]

PABLO!!

I guess people could call me an airhead too, but I could never get enough of this stuff. In fact, I was just looking at the rovers site this minute. I am completely fascinated by this topic and don't mind one bit my tax dolla' spent on these programs.
Looking at the pictures of Mars and the notion that we have put a golf cart size machine there is just mind boggling.....that we can clearly see pictures of another world......the ability to explore.....the hopes of finding life!!

I guess I better stop now!

 

[Shannow]

Heart says that it would be great to see a man (or whatever country) set foot on Mars.

Head says invest in robots, and find out what we can that way. The big problem with robots is no curiosity or ingenuity are inbuilt, so what you get is limited.

But we do learn a terrible lot with every new endeavour such as this, so I quite like the idea of a new space programme.

 

[Al]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Shannow:
But we do learn a terrible lot with every new endeavour such as this, so I quite like the idea of a new space programme.

---

Easy for you to say-You won't have to help pay for it

 

[keith]

I like the idea of building a self sustainable base off of the planet earth, one that will be hard to reach by Al-Qaeda!

In any event, we need to replace the shuttle with a lower risk, lower cost vehicle.

Keith.

 

[JohnnyO]

My .02 is that Mars is the most inhabitable other planet temp-wise but if you have to go around anyplace with an air tank on your back and ship in a lot of what you need to eat and drink, then living on another planet is not real practicle for large numbers of people.

 

[K-Man]

Great idea, if we're serious about it and take a slow, deliberate pace to establish permanent infrastructure and presence. If we're not, as Kennedy said about going to the moon in 1961, then forget it. But I don't see how we're going to pay for it when we're running $500 billion deficits. Even giving NASA an extra $1-2 billion a year to establish this goal over 20 years or so, which would be my favored approach, would seem to be difficult with that kind of deficit. We ain't got it.

 

[sciroccoGTX16V]

There are several problems for a trip to Mars. The spaceship has to be manufactured in orbit and be big enough to hold supplies for a 3 man crew.
Astronauts have to get used in living in space for up to a year. And of course funding will run in the hundreds of billions. We don't have the lifting capability to haul big objects in orbit, Russians do, they still have the Energia booster.
Russians have plenty of cosmonauts who lived in orbit for more than a year, they know all the sciense on how gravity affects the human body for long time.
we can go to mars but only if it's a trully international project. ISS proved it can happen.

 

[ex_MGB]

I can understand the President following in his father's footsteps and going one better, however, realistically, the case has to be made how a human on Mars encapsulated in a spacesuit is capable of pushing the envelope of knowledge further that a state of the art exploratory machine.

I just listened to a lot of romantic gibberish about how spiritually uplifting it would for a man to make the journey. Well, to be honest, I'd be spiritually uplifted to see a skilled human machinist put out more production in a day than a 5 million dollar CNC machine, but, it ain't gonna happen (shades of John Henry).

If "the spiritual thing" is the best argument that can be made, I say, shoot a movie saying we done it, pass it off as real to those in need of "Trekkie Spirituality", and let those so inclined be spiritually uplifted.

Hey, Reagan destroyed the "Evil Empire" in part with SDI and that was make believe at the time of the collapse.

[ January 14, 2004, 07:45 PM: Message edited by: ex_MGB ]

 

[Shannow]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Al:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Shannow:
But we do learn a terrible lot with every new endeavour such as this, so I quite like the idea of a new space programme.

---

Easy for you to say-You won't have to help pay for it

---

excellent point, that DOES make it more attractive, doesn't it ?

 

[labman]

I never agree 100% with anybody, and here I part company with Bush. Sending man is an expensive boondoggle.

 

[wulimaster]

quote:

---

Originally posted by keith:
I like the idea of building a self sustainable base off of the planet earth,
Keith.

---

I would like to see direction moved toward a self sustainable earth. There appears to be available the means, motive, and opportunity but the vision is lacking by those with the means. I believe their motives overide any vision toward that end.

 

[MillerMan]

not against the idea, but were is the money going to come from, Bush just throws money everwhere, like it grows on trees or something. when will it end? hopefully next Nov.

 

[Shannow]

quote:

---

Originally posted by labman:
I never agree 100% with anybody, and here I part company with Bush. Sending man is an expensive boondoggle.

---

labman,
you're right. Sending a man means sending life support systems, and ever spiralling costs.

Machines need minimal systems, and can go many more palces for the same investment.

But machines lack imagination, and ingenuity. A human will say "I wonder what's under that rock ?", or devise a means to get something unstuck.

I think that sending people to remote places reminds us of how our countries were founded, and gives people an emotional rather than logical reaction.

 

[ex_MGB]

But machines lack imagination, and ingenuity. A human will say "I wonder what's under that rock ?", or devise a means to get something unstuck.

Or, devise a machine to do it. Afterall, humans are both creature and creator...

I am reminded here of the USAF. What's more effective, a F15E Strike Eagle or an unmanned, low altitude drone loitering on station for 20 hours at a stretch, linked to a B52 at 40,000 feet loaded with JDAM's capable of hitting within 5 feet of the target?

[ January 17, 2004, 09:23 AM: Message edited by: ex_MGB ]

 

[MarkC]

Well, since the company I work for (and the site I work at) supplies a great deal of the sensors to Boeing to make the JDAMS kits, I'd say.....well.
We also have over 50 sensors and switches on the mars rover, so I'd also say let's go!
But I also have to wonder if we couldn't spend the money more wisely and fix some things here on Earth.
Cath-22.