Let's Be Honest About Mars

Just an observation: as a kid I remember when, flush with excitement over the Apollo moon landing (I watched the Apollo 11 launch from Titusville) it was proposed that we’d put man on Mars by 1990.

2025 and we’re still puddle jumping, blowing up rockets and unable to rescue two astronauts marooned in low earth orbit.

 

SpaceX is a private company that’s doing good work. If they want to spend money on missions to Mars I’m more than happy to watch them do it. So let Gywnne Shotwell do her thing. As for Musk he can stay out of the ISS debate. I’m sure he wants contracts to send several Starships up to space as a replacement ISS.

 

I definitely don't think we are on the Red Mars timeline (unless we have a craft ready by 2026). I've read some compelling arguments as to why settling Mars would be basically impossible, even without costs being a factor. I dont think we can count on the leaps of technical progress which we took for granted during the late 20th century either. Perhaps it is possible, but it seems like these efforts should be put toward making life on earth sustainable, rather than throwing money at a pipedream.

 

If SpaceX is willing to lead the way on it then I’m sure NASA would be willing to pay for the ride for some experiments. Starship is pretty far from a human riding it though. It has no separate occupant jettison capsule meaning the reliability of this thing would have to be off the charts before anyone reasonable would step foot in one.

 

The thing about space exploration; it isn't just exploring space for the sake of it. It's what we learn along the way. Like Tang.

 

Freeze dried ice cream was peak for me as a kid visiting Kennedy Space Center.

 

and Space Food sticks.

 

Dippin Dots, not really the ice cream of the future, I have to say

 

Dippin Dots and Tang - food products so bad they had to concocted in space.

 

My kids love that crap. I don’t get it.

 

Velcro. Hand-held computers. Laser-range finders.

 

Teflon was supposed to be one but apparently it’s been poisoning us.

 

And Depends.

 

Additionally, several lightweight materials were developed. The space program brought ICs and microchips into practical consumer applications probably 15-25 years ahead of when the consumer market would have brought them. They weren’t invented for NASA, but NASA did fund some later development and testing and provided a very large initial market the products which made investment profitable for TI and Fairchild

 

Depends on how you use it. For instance, don't try it as an, er, personal lubricant.

 

I don't think Starship is mission capable to go to Mars. Honestly, one company isn't going to make it alone, as it took everything we had just to get to the Moon.

If we are serious about going there, we will need a massive budget increase to NASA and it will likely take a collective effort of several big aerospace companies to make it happen. Most of its 20ish Billion $ budget isn't even on manned space flight.

One thing is clear though, It would have been much easier to do it collectively with Europe, Canada and possibly Russia. That isnt going to happen now. I'm not even sure if the SLS service module is going to be done since it was supposed to be built by Airbus.

 

Yea baby

And that rats, mice, monkeys, and dogs love outer space.