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Will man ever walk on Mars?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Dick Whitman, Aug 27, 2012.

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Will man ever walk on Mars?

  1. Yes, but not in my lifetime.

    31 vote(s)
    48.4%
  2. Yes, in my lifetime.

    25 vote(s)
    39.1%
  3. No, never.

    8 vote(s)
    12.5%
  1. 3OctaveFart

    3OctaveFart Guest

    As the guy retorted when they asked him why he climbed Everest:
    "Because it's there."
    And if you think that is too simple-minded, the sentiment has powered the history of human imagination.
     
  2. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    It would almost have to be a multi-decade project to do it. If you want to use the analogy of a Mars trip as a visit to your neighbors, going to the Moon is on the order of shifting to the other side of the couch. Honestly, the only way I could see it happening -- absent some radical new propulsion innovation -- would be to build a big enough space station and then set it adrift. And you're talking years upon years from then before arrival at Mars.
     
  3. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    I'm sympathetic with this view, but as I read more and more about the realities of a manned Mars expedition, I'm struck by just how difficult it would be. My perceptions with regard to this difficulty has led me to question whether: A) we'll ever get off this planet; and/or B) whether we'll ever get visited from elsewhere. I think the odds are tremendously in favor of there being life "out there," but I also think it may be the case that it's just too damn difficult to bop around the neighborhood.
     
  4. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    It absolutely would have to be a multi-decade project to do it.

    Even if Santa Claus arrived tomorrow with a check for a trillion or so bucks and NASA was given the full-throttle go-ahead, we couldn't even START LAUNCHING the 50-100 launches it would take to assemble the vehicle in one day less than five years. Then figure 6-8 years to put the thing together. Then a couple years to wait for the launch window, and a couple more years to get there.

    Don't even think about any delays which might ensue after a couple of those assembly launches blow up on the way to orbit (which they will, according to statistical probability) -- each of those would knock the program back a couple of years.

    So even if Santa came down the chimney tomorrow morning with the trillion-dollar check, it would take the best part of 20 years to get there.

    It'll happen someday, but not in most of our lifetimes.

    Oh -- forget about the Chinese. They're about where we were midway in the Gemini program, and they're launching one mission every three years.
     
  5. 3OctaveFart

    3OctaveFart Guest

    I ask respectfully what scientific literature you have been reading that leads you to these conclusions.
    Whether we have been visited - as far as I'm concerned that is a matter of sheer faith at this point.
     
  6. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    No scientific literature, just popular press stuff. My only thinking is if it's difficult for us, it's got to be difficult for them, too. Maybe it's a technological "speed of light" thing ... perhaps there are practical limits in what is possible with regard to inter-galactical travel.
     
  7. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    The guy who scaled Everest didn't demand hundreds of billions (if not trillions) in public money from a govt already submerged in debt crisis to do it. Anyone may pursue on a purely "because it's there" basis if done through private funding, but the purpose and cost/benefit analysis become a a bit trickier if they want to make the journey on the taxpayer's dime.
     
  8. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

    But that's always been the case with basic science. You expect to get something out of it, but can only guess at what.
     
  9. SalukiNC

    SalukiNC Member

    My guess is Lorenzo, Snooki's kid, is the first to walk on Mars
     
  10. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Good God. That's either incredibly ambitious and inspiring or a tragedy waiting to happen.
    If anything gets damaged in landing -- life support units, food and water supplies -- those first colonists are completely and utterly screwed. And unless they have some sort of plan for terraforming Mars, the colonists are completely dependent on receiving supplies from Earth. If the people backing the expedition go belly up once the astronauts are on their way, or the donations dry up, they're done.
    It's the worst kind of suicide mission.
     
  11. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    I plan to arrive in Scarlett Johannson's bedroom sooner than 2023.

    My plan has a much higher prospect for success.
     
  12. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    This. I knew what I needed to know about the credibility of that Mars One plan as soon as I saw this line:

    Yeah, that sounds realistic. Although, come to think of it, blasting off a pack of reality show attention whores with a one way ticket to Mars would have the collateral societal benefit of ridding this world of some reality show attention whores--so, hey, I'm all for it. On this week's episode of Snooki in Space....
     
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