His Presidency Want's to Send Children to Mars?

Of course you're right Ignorance, rudeness and intolerance are three of the cornerstones of literacy. Do you know what the fourth one is?

Not that I disagree with your hypothesis.. However in my defense.. I was entering that original post while on the train with my stop rapidly approaching. I exited the train just as i finished and my thoughts were dissolved into little more than bullet points...

I wanted to ask the questions before getting home and neglecting to post it altogether. But who cares?

What's yours?

Pride may be one of those cornerstones. I understand about posting things in a hurry.

Time is always of the essence.

it may be annoying, but standards should be kept..... as annoying as it can be, look at it more as a grammar checker, so we don't drive into utter bibble-babble

yeah well ok @point taken#

now that was uncalled for...

Proper spelling wants to be one of the cornerstones, but you won't let it.

Yeah.. It's been a lifelong battle with that garjub,

I take that back. Apparently illiteracy is your friend, and someone else's, too.

We.ve been corresponding with each other on a regular basis for as long as I can remember!

• Is this a safely attainable goal?

Define safe. 95% success?, 30% Success? (with success being reaching your goal)

• Will it bankrupt the nation?

It a collaboration between government and the private sector. With this, the costs should be reduced. My opinion, is, the private sector is business, businesses operate on profit. Big business that have deep pockets operate on short term profit. I have a hard time seeing this happening.

The other thing, the past few years is optimizing coming from a politician(s) is nothing more than spinning BS.

Now, if Mars is a place to send retiring career politicians, I'll make a cash donation.

One of our national newspapers has a thread running on its letters page where correspondents nominate "celebrities" to be included in the first mission to Mars....

They will have to be waitlisted behind the Washington D.C. elite.

Maybe, one should hold a fundraiser on Mars, that would generate volunteers, celebrities and politicians.... ^{did I just say that out loud?}

And then chop the air hose in two once they get up there. It wouldn't really do anything, since this class of people is all full of warm body-temperature air and related flatulence. Gives a whole new meaning to gas bag technology.

They need no air, ... word has it, they sniff their own farts. so that would also make them recycling environmentalists..

Does this mean the attractive ones (that apparently warrant groping by certain people) are pretty fart sniffers?

Pretty fart sniffers?...... as I understand it, that's the least of their talent.

At least half of them (the ones we've heard of!) are on there already...

If ever there were a government sanctioned suicide mission. This seem to be as close as possible. Perhaps that's a serious exaggeration?

Like most others, I only know what I've read about long term manned space flight outside of earths orbit. I've never actually done it.

There are plenty of feasible plans, but the difference between planning and undertaking such a mission are enormous. Food? Fuel? Water? Reliable equipment? redundant systems for everything?

To make an orbital mission would require quite a bit of risk and a lot of $ in addition to a bit of non existent tech. To get some crew members to the surface and back would greatly increase the complexity, cost, and risk.

I know there are those who think humanity should escape the hazards of Earth and go live in the pristine environment of Mars and I wish we could afford to send all of them there. I really do, That said, there is very little reason to man a mission to Mars at this time. If you want a settlement there. Think big about a mechanized surface and people living underground. With no magnetic field we would minimize time at the surface outside of costly shielded structures or vehicles.

I agree that involvement with the private sector can and will increase the efficiency of a manned mission to mars. Why not focus on the why? and how? before committing to such a plan.

I wouldn't send my dog on a mission to Mars. Would you?

Define success? well it would have to be WAAAY above the zero percent chance we have today.

In a year divisible by 4 I don't believe anything any politician says.

as of late, it doesn't even have to be divisible by 4 by what politicians say. Foolish politicians and the voters that put them there.

I tend to hear a politician's words with a finely tuned lie detector on days that end in "Y", Years that are even or odd numbered, and any months that begin with a vowel or consonant.

Other politicians I look at the video clip and state, "Yep his/her mouth is moving, therefore they must be lying."

I would remind all the geniuses that traveling are outside in the solar winds, "cosmic" winds, etc can have exceptionally detrimental effects of the human body. I would further remind them, there is no existing lift technology today that could put a sufficient habitat in pre-departure orbit that would function as a complete shield to cosmic radiation. The alternative for such ventures in space is to travel a much shorter period of time, and hope for the best. We do not have that technology readily available at this time either.

magnetosphere of earth compared with lunar orbit

As to colonization of Mars. Forget it. There is nothing we need there that cannot be recovered by robotic mining, etc. Sure, by all means, explore and find the answers sought about life or former life on Mars. Understand the richness of its history, it geology, etc. then mine the living hell out of it, and discard the hollow shell.

If Mars is geologically active still at all (which I sort of doubt), there could a source of Martian energy more readily tapped into than incident solar radiation to Mars.

Right now, humans should look to their own planet, their own climate issues, overpopulation, changing demands on food production and distribution, etc. But far more important is for each human to search his own heart, and discard any evil intentions, and to find peace within his own soul.

it's more complex than you think

I think we would be at Mars by now if we had built on the Apollo program and had an established moon base and experience travelling back and forth. However, from where we are now, I think Mars is only going to be inhabited by robots for quite some time.

Taking a break from the grammar wars:

According to NASA, a vessel with humans on it would take roughly six months to travel to Mars and another six months to travel back from Mars. In addition, astronauts would have to stay 18-20 months on Mars before the planets re-align for a return trip. In all, the mission would take roughly 2 1/2 years.

How Long To Mars? - Infoplease

Is there a backup plan?

I'd say robots for now but I really don't know.

I'm no far of going to Mars until we figure out how to live together here on Earth.

I agree,... until one can actually have a life support .... or support life on mars for 5 years minimum.

For now, robots are the answer. I think we can gain from the technology that's required... right now, there are issues that are sucking up our resources here that's stopping this and it comes down to politics and religion. There, I said them both.

I think that politically, the USA will want to be first to colonize the planet, to claim the mineral rights.

God only knows why we'd need to send humans.

unless that's just for the moon,... I think that there's a treaty that no one country can claim it,

Individuals and organisations (including countries I believe) can claim bits of the Moon that have their equipment on for as long as they're using it (it's something like that).

There's a bloke who bought an abandoned moon-lander and because he uses the light (laser) reflected from the mirror to measure distance, he owns the land under the vehicle.

I'm not sure how practical this is. I know there are lawyers already involved in Lunar Land Grab...

I'm not sure how practical this is. I know there are lawyers already involved in Lunar Land Grab...

Sounds kinda like stories from earth like this one. The only difference is ones that profit, would be the attorneys....

From the stuff I've been listening to over the last few weeks, it seems the plan is to continue with robot missions to Mars whilst reinstating manned missions to the moon with a view to establishing a permanent base there. Lessons learned can then be transferred to manned (and womanned ) missions to Mars.

Sounds reasonable, since as a species we've proven we can get to the Moon and back....

I agree, the task to Mars imo has to be broken down in steps. Not only in money, but in technology development.

Damnist ??? thing. About 2 months ago, Don't know how or why, I was started getting news feeds ^{If one wants to call it that} about the moon on the reason why we stopped with the moon landings. Too embarrassed to repeat it.

Oh go on...we're all friends here and no-one will laugh at you. Honest

ahhh, did I say that out loud?.... now that I did, somehow,.... I was afraid you'd say that.

Was it not the aliens warning us by lighting up their stations on the moon when we flew over and landed? Or maybe it was the "pigeons" our astronauts kept seeing out the window of the lander.

Or perhaps it was on an episode of The Simpsons where everything was explained in detail.

I think it really had to do with money. The challenge of being the first on the moon was met. What was next? Congress started having other priorities, such as milk programs, school breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and welfare for everyone, etc.

My personal feeling is that Social Darwinism should have been allowed to sort things out. The unwilling or unable to work, yes would be starved out, and it is most cruel and unchristian to think it, but that is not our government's job. The job is to defend generally, and promote the general welfare, not hand out universal welfare, and tax the working man into the pit.

This guy cracks me up....

Be afraid, be very afraid...it's nearly All Hallowse'en

even with that, it's still my favorite time of the year......

I love that so many fell for it!

That experience must have been something else. It's is like the first time you go into a haunted house as a child, or the first time you sky dive or do something out of the ordinary. The emotion involved.

Must have and was quite a production, during and after.

I still remember my parents discussing that years after the fact.

Not much was said at home about it,.... I don't think my grampa had a radio... and if he did and Joe Louis was fighting, that is what he listened to.

The situation seems a little embarrassing. And not just from a scientific viewpoint. The financial repercussions for such a misinformed "plan" could reach untold billions of dollars.

I can't decide if it speaks more to the puppetry of the presidency or the Hollywood influence.

No matter what happens the administration can claim responsibility for jump starting the new race to $pace.

I can only imagine the closed door meetings with Elon.

pure madness

Billions? That sounds optimistic.

I agree.. I could top a thousand billion many times over if we want to do it safely.

I was only considering the billions it will cost to find out that we can't do it for a variety of reasons.

Heck, what's money when the whole attitude in government is: "It's all funny money anyway." In this administration, money is not backed by gold, not backed by the full faith and accountability of our government, but is on the backs of taxpayers for generations following.

I can see doing the trip to Mars right as building a giant a$$ spaceship in orbit, then after we realize that we can't put enough fuel in orbit to send it to Mars, we just take it to the nearest 7-11 and get slurpees. OR we put up another craft attached to it, stock it up, then accelerate it like hell so the trip takes a lot less time, and we send it right before the window opens, stay maybe a long weekend, then turn around and surf back before the window closes on orbital proximity.

Funny Money For Mars! There's a champaign in there somewhere?

Shouldn't we just watch Elon and others waste their time and money on such ludacris projects? Space is a great place to put satellites for various uses. I'd even go so far as saying it's a nice place to visit.

-I call for 10,000 people to live and work in mining camps on the moon before 2035.

There will be free 3D printed protein+ pizza and a coffee like extraction available 24/7.

Bleiuch!