Manned mission to Mars?

lol dream on. China just got a man into space a few years ago. If the Russian economy picks up they're the only real possibility of getting to Mars before the US.

 

Honestly, the Chinese are currently more dedicated to space travel than anyone else.

 

I don't think the spirit of exploration, adventure and curiosity have anything to do with "dicks", and I'm talking about the human exploration of space. If NASA had had the funding back through the 80's till now, we would have been just getting ready to send people to Mars in the next year or two. The benefits of a human mission to Mars would be huge. The net financial returns for technologies and materials,etc developed for space exploration in the US is between 700% and 1400%. Most people don't know how many things they use everyday that was originally created for use in space.

 

I think they should work on going to the moon first

 

it's a waste of money we don't have

 

The money would be better spent on renewable energy projects. I think the return on investment would be just as good.

Efforts to go to the moon and beyond should be privatized. I see no reason for taxpayer's money to be used.

 

It absolutely does. Given the state of this planet, humans are going to be needing to expand much much more into space in the next 50 years. We'll need orbiting farms for sure, as well as orbiting power plants (I believe our energy future lies in orbiting solar power sent to the surface via microwaves). It's entirely possible that orbiting stations, moon and Mars bases are necessary to the survival of our species.

That said, we need to start living in these environments as soon as we can. While robots are safer, they can't show us what actually happens to the human body on Mars. I know your statement was rhetorical, but the reason we send robots to Neptune is that it has no livable surface, the location and makeup of the planet is incredibly inhospitable the gravity would be enormous and it's really, really freaking far away. However, in the future, I can see orbiting stations around Neptune.

 

I've not heard how space travelers would maintain a steady supply of oxygen--especially for Mars and beyond.Anyone thought that one out?

 

No.. we need to start managing this planet we are on much better. Greed and Religion are doing a pretty good job of preventing that.

 

I strongly disagree with everything you said. If we spend these vast amounts of taxpayer's money on Mars, it becomes much less likely we will have the resources to fix the planet first.

I'm OK with letting private corporations do it, though.

 

I think our difference lies in that it sounds like you have hope that we can fix the planet. I don't. The problems are too vast and humanity doesn't care enough to actually fix it. The best (I think) we can do is a large scale gene-sampling project so, on the off chance we eventually do find a place we can "recreate" the planet, we can clone animal species. Otherwise, I think our only hope lies in colonization outside of Earth.

 

I agree that greed, bigotry, ignorance and simple apathy are preventing us from fixing the planet. Which is why I don't think that fixing the planet is possible at this point. Correcting the imbalances in the atmosphere at this point is estimated to take thousands of years. That's just where we are right now, and if we ceased all carbon dioxide emissions from non-living sources.

Call me pessimist, but I really do think that it'll be a very long time before the planet can fix itself, because we humans can't or won't do it.

 

The earth would have to become ten times more screwed up than it ever has been before living permanently on Mars or the moon would start to look like a better option. Can you really imagine living most of your life in a place where you have to put on a space suit to go outdoors, where everything is dead? The big lesson from the Apollo program was that there's no place like home. Same lesson as the Wizard of Oz.

 

The lesson from the Apollo program is what we now call the digital age

 

I don't see any connection. Most of the benefits of the space program have been exaggerated in order to continue the drain of taxpayer money.

 

Sigh, keep trying

http://www.thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09201/985039-51.stm
http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00000269.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spin-off

What drain, NASA's budget is miniscule compared to most other programs, and most analysts agree NASA's return on investment in technology generally far out weighs it's budget

 

GOLF BALL AERODYNAMICS - A recently designed golf ball, which has 500 dimples arranged in a pattern of 60 spherical triangles, employs NASA aerodynamics technology to create a more symmetrical ball surface, sustaining initial velocity longer and producing a more stable ball flight for better accuracy and distance.

 

Alright how about copying and pasting some of the ones on microchips, solar energy, and ect

 

I'm down with it as long as they wait until I'm dead. I can live happily for the rest of my life knowing little more about Mars than I know now, and that money could be far better spent.

 

OK, Syd, I'll read those links since I respect anybody that can come up with facts, but I'll also try to come up with links that support my view.