Why is NASA scared of Mars?

[John the Monkey]

Spindly, clammy fingered aliens.

The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one. (They say).

 

[Profpointy]

Ah there is that - but was it NASA or the "world space agency" or whatever by Captain Scarlet's time?

 

[dellzeqq]

Even the biggest conspiracy theorists have trouble explaining the abandoned descent sections of the Apollo craft and the trails of footprints still on the surface, which have been photographed from orbit by both the Russians and Japanese in recent years.

says the man whose avatar is a picture of a woman sitting on a bomb.

 

[Profpointy]

More seriously though, maybe a series of very soohisticated unmaned missions to Europa and Encaledus to find any fish swimming under the ice would be better value than people to Mars.

Or maybe the 100 year (unmanned) Alpha Centauri mission might not be as expensive as a manned local trip

 

[classic33]

I guess the yanks don't see any political gain in space at the moment, the main reason they went to the moon was to beat the russians

Russians had already ruled out any manned missions, purely by them, when Kennedy turned down the offer of a joint mission to the moon.

 

[marinyork]

I recall a quote from (I think) Aldrin along the lines of..."it was only when I was sat on top of a vast hydrogen bomb, that I considered how it had been put together by the lowest competitive bid"

Its a great sales quote!

In the faster, better, cheaper era the American public can be enthused but there seems to be a novelty factor in the media. So for example the first mars rover got loads of attention. The subsequent ones did not really.

I have a lot of respect for the Mars society though.

 

[sight-pin]

I cant tell if you are being ironic...but this is pretty close to the Tera-forming concepts that have already been put forward for Mars.

Granted they will all take around 100 years to create any form of atmosphere capable of warming the planet...let alone oxygenating it...but poo and plants seems to be the way forward!

Oh and the petrol mower; a few scientists suggest huge CO2 emitting generators, to create greenhouse gasses. Like a really big lawnmoer

No, i didn't mean it ironic, more like an idiotic spur-of-the-moment thing.

 

[ufkacbln]

The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one. (They say).

We also need to stock up on flu vaccines for the martians

 

[jonny jeez]

No, i didn't mean it ironic, more like an idiotic spur-of-the-moment thing.

Then you are a genius.

 

[jonny jeez]

Has no one mentioned the 100 Billion Dollars yet?

Yes.

The mars direct team actually estimated a £5bn ticket.

Then, when the NASA admistration changed and NASA eventually started to listen to Zubrin, they added a third RV (for additional redundancy and backup) along with a mother ship to dock with and provide better comfort for the returning martians, which I recall pumped the budget back up to £35-50bn.

Zubrin believed (in his angry way) that many people would line the streets for a chance to immortalise themselves as the first mars explorers and would settle for the cheaper, more cramped accommodation....or never returning at all.

 

[Racing roadkill]

A bit of me is already on Mars. Boogers count as a part of me, right?

 

[jonny jeez]

We also need to stock up on flu vaccines for the martians

Planetary protection is a real thing, with a full department and director.

I do wonder how much protection mars needs given that it is struck by objects travelling vast sterile distances all the time...as are we for that matter.

If germs from Mars existed, they would have been here for millennia .

Not to mention the waste material that we eject into space from our own missions and of course from our landings. As others have said, in a few years we shall discover life in Mars...that we took there ourselves.

 

[classic33]

Yes.

The mars direct team actually estimated a £5bn ticket.

Then, when the NASA admistration changed and NASA eventually started to listen to Zubrin, they added a third RV (for additional redundancy and backup) along with a mother ship to dock with and provide better comfort for the returning martians, which I recall pumped the budget back up to £35-50bn.

Zubrin believed (in his angry way) that many people would line the streets for a chance to immortalise themselves as the first mars explorers and would settle for the cheaper, more cramped accommodation....or never returning at all.

It's a one way ticket at present. With some accomodation modules being trialled on the ISS.

 

[sight-pin]

Then you are a genius.

I wished......maybe with the vindaloo bit then lol

 

[classic33]

I think its a little more. About 10 years ago the mars direct team generated huge buzz (see what I did there) with their cheap, simple mission concept.

Nasa eventually responded by cancelling mars research, almost out of spite or acceptance that they were being trumped with Independant ideas. They had a wake up call and despite doing some amazing work, started to feel threatened for funding..

Every time an independent firm comes up with a better idea, it weakens NASA.
So NASA now seems to deploy research in smaller side projects, that maintain just enough interest to keep the money flowing but not so much as to attract competition.

They need to be brave, stick it all on red and shoot for the stars.

Download the application forms here http://www.nasa.gov/astronauts