DailyDirt: Mars Is Not A Pleasant Vacation

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Getting on a rocket to Mars has been a dream for space exploration enthusiasts for decades. However, there are a lot of engineering problems that still need solutions before people can safely get to Mars (and back, unless you favor the one-way trip strategy). Optimists might expect humans to walk on Mars sometime in the 2030s, but realistically, there would have to be a significant change in the way deep space exploration is funded for that to happen. If you're just entering 5th grade or so, maybe you can consider a career on Mars. But perhaps you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket. If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
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Filed Under: astronauts, maggie lieu, manned missions, mars, mars one, microgravity, sls, space exploration, spacecraft
Companies: boeing, nasa


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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2015 @ 6:55pm

    Why all this talk about a manned mission to Mars? Let's go to the Moon first. At least that's a goal that could probably be achieved within a decade, if price was no object.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Roger Strong (profile), 10 Mar 2015 @ 8:50pm

      Re:

      Sure, a "flags and footprints" mission to the Moon could be done quickly. Especially if price is no object. But if you want to *colonize*, then Mars becomes the preferred choice.

      A colony means raising children. And that means bone growth. We're optimized for doing this at one Earth gravity. We've only barely experimented with this at zero G, and we have no idea whether the Moon's 1/6th or Mars's 38% gravity would be enough.

      But since Mar's gravity is closest, more than double that of the Moon's, it's the better bet.

      (The Centrifuge Accommodations Module on ISS would have run experiments at different gravity levels. Launch was cancelled in 2005, and its sitting in a parking lot.)

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Ray Trygstad (profile), 11 Mar 2015 @ 8:18am

    The first baby boy born on Mars...

    ...would need to be named Michael Valentine [lastname].

    If you don't know why, shame on you; look it up.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Ray Trygstad (profile), 11 Mar 2015 @ 8:21am

      Re: The first baby boy born on Mars...

      Ok, I'm old and the name part of my memory no longer functions at peak capacity. Correction: Valentine Michael.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    John Fenderson (profile), 12 Mar 2015 @ 8:51am

    Disappointed

    Not a single reference to "get your ass to Mars"? I'm disappointed.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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