Will there be human footprints on Mars by 2040? If so, who will have done it?

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Why would anyone want to leave Earth? It's the only planet known to have beer.

I'm sure we can ferment potatoes! [emoji6]

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

There is a business case for transforming the industry. That is why companies like SpaceX, BlueOrigin, and others are pumping money in to take it to the next level, to position themselves to tap into the potential.

What is happening now with the space industry is no different than what has happened in so many other industries: automotive, food, energy, etc. Initial inventive work eventually led to its potential being recognized by someone who had the vision and resources to turn something small into something huge.

Of all things, frozen food is a good example. Clarence Birdseye invented a way of quick freezing food that made it quite palatable (previous slow frozen food turned to mush). The problem was that there was no distribution system (refrigerated trucks) in place to take it beyond his local area, and grocery stores of the time didn't have refrigerated cases for frozen foods. It was a dead end......until Marjorie Post of General Foods bought in. She paid for the build out of the distribution system, even putting refrigerated cases in grocery stores for free if they would carry the foods. What was a dead end became an enormous success.

The same thing is happening right now in the space industry. NASA and others have demonstrated the potential and answered most of the basic questions (at one time we didn't know if man could even survive in weightlessness). But government entities are slow, and programs are prone to cancellation if the political winds change. The launch systems they developed were not optimized for economic viability. Human space exploration went stagnant. Even robotic exploration suffered from high launch costs due to the one use nature of the launch systems.

Well funded corporations are taking over as the leaders in space travel. They have the resources and the will to take it out of the doldrums. What they have done in recent years would have taken NASA decades to accomplish, and there is no sign of them slowing down. Re-usable boosters that land themselves are now a reality.

If you follow SpaceX you'll know they are building initial test prototypes of a launch system that has only two stages, both of which will be fully re-usable. The upper stage will have a large payload capacity, the capability to land and take off from the moon or Mars, and the capability to land back on Earth. In terms of cost and capability it is a game changer. I hope they can pull it off, it looks like they will.

So I agree with all of this in principle. Corporations beginning to turn space into a profit-earning enterprise just makes sense. Near-earth and geosynchronous orbit has economic value, and if they can get things up into the sky cheaper and more readily than gov't, it makes perfect sense to turn it commercial.

Beyond earth orbit, I just don't see a business case that justifies it.

Space mining could be one, of course. And it's possible that a base on the moon or Mars, where gravity is weaker than Earth, and particularly Mars where you're closer to the asteroid belt, might make some sense. But then you've gotta be looking for elements that are not only so rare on earth that it's simply hard to find them, but also so valuable that space mining is profitable. Getting to outer space is STILL astronomically [pun intended] expensive.

Beyond that, you have what, space tourism? The problem is that most people who want to leave the planet don't have the kind of money necessary to leave the planet. If they had that kind of money, it's pretty fun to spend it down here--and it won't do much good on another rock in a bare-bones moon or Mars colony settlement.

Gov't can throw money at bragging rights, but I think we're past that at this point in the "space race". Private enterprise is the one that could really make it happen, but only if there's an actual business case. I just don't see one that makes sense.

 

[bleme]

I still find it hard to believe that in an era where we have all seen an Avengers, X-Men or James Bond movie, that we don't immediately recognize a super-villain when he launches a $200,000 convertible into space "for no reason at all"!

 

[day_trippr]

lol - Elon certainly has the ego for a super villain role. Stay tuned

 

[day_trippr]

Anyway....after seeing this video it'd be hella cheaper to just send robots to visit planets for us...



Cheers! (Seriously, I'd be calling 911 halfway through that routine )

 

[passedpawn]

lol - Elon certainly has the ego for a super villain role. Stay tuned

Yea, those guys at Boston Dynamics are just killing it. Looks like CGI.

Talk about super villians, check this crazy ****. Franky Zapata channeling green goblin.

 

[day_trippr]

Oh ffs, keep that ***** out of the Caribean, we're stalking bonefish down heeyah!

 

[John Done]

There are at least there main reasons why Mars colonization isn't a great idea. The first one - if people ever land on it, they will bring trillions of terrestrial bacteria on the planet. There is a real risk that some of them could completely derail the entire mission to find Martian aboriginal life since scientists cannot separate the local microorganisms from those that they brought with them. In addition, no one can say for sure how terrestrial microbes will affect the Martian ecosystem. The second one - instead of people, it is better to send robots to Mars. This way we can minimize the contamination of Mars by terrestrial bacteria. In addition, robots have many advantages. They are cheaper than humans, they don’t need infrastructure to live, they don’t need water, food, and breathable air. Besides, robots can do difficult research for astronauts, analyze samples from canyons that humans cannot descend into, and even search for Martian microbes underneath the rocks. The last one is that it is better to put things in order on Earth first. The most pressing problem in the debate around Mars is that dreamers of a new home for humanity put humanity's quest ahead of the situation on their planet.

 

[Kent88]

#occupyVenus

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

There are at least there main reasons why Mars colonization isn't a great idea. The first one - if people ever land on it, they will bring trillions of terrestrial bacteria on the planet. There is a real risk that some of them could completely derail the entire mission to find Martian aboriginal life since scientists cannot separate the local microorganisms from those that they brought with them. In addition, no one can say for sure how terrestrial microbes will affect the Martian ecosystem. The second one - instead of people, it is better to send robots to Mars. This way we can minimize the contamination of Mars by terrestrial bacteria. In addition, robots have many advantages. They are cheaper than humans, they don’t need infrastructure to live, they don’t need water, food, and breathable air. Besides, robots can do difficult research for astronauts, analyze samples from canyons that humans cannot descend into, and even search for Martian microbes underneath the rocks. The last one is that it is better to put things in order on Earth first. The most pressing problem in the debate around Mars is that dreamers of a new home for humanity put humanity's quest ahead of the situation on their planet.

I'm going to play the devil's advocate here.

Point 1) there is ZERO, zip, zilch chance of any "indigenous" life on Mars to evolve to something substantial or to any real complexity (for lack of a better term) so quit frankly, who cares what we bring.

Point 2) I agree with the robots but to be used for building infrastructure prior to human arrival.

Point 3) Humans are awful at fixing problems. Wonderful at creating them so with the NASA budget being like .5% of the national budget, I think there's plenty left if any leader ever wants to "fix" problems... whatever that means.

Mars will be a one way trip anyway, at first, so this stage in my life I say what the hell, let's go. At least it would be a positive accomplishment, for a change, by mankind. Regards

 

[John Done]

I'm going to play the devil's advocate here.

Point 1) there is ZERO, zip, zilch chance of any "indigenous" life on Mars to evolve to something substantial or to any real complexity (for lack of a better term) so quit frankly, who cares what we bring.

Point 2) I agree with the robots but to be used for building infrastructure prior to human arrival.

Point 3) Humans are awful at fixing problems. Wonderful at creating them so with the NASA budget being like .5% of the national budget, I think there's plenty left if any leader ever wants to "fix" problems... whatever that means.

Mars will be a one way trip anyway, at first, so this stage in my life I say what the hell, let's go. At least it would be a positive accomplishment, for a change, by mankind. Regards

We have a lack of resources here to build robots which can actually create colonies for people and finally, I just refuse to believe that we really can reach Mars for a living - maybe for one little walk which by the way will cost almost half of a million.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

We have a lack of resources here to build robots which can actually create colonies for people and finally, I just refuse to believe that we really can reach Mars for a living - maybe for one little walk which by the way will cost almost half of a million.

I believe you mean half a billion...

I with you, Mars is inhabitable. We only have one planet, one home, one chance. Humanity's issue is not about money however, it's about will. The will to change our current lifestyle. The will to aid others less fortunate. The will to move to more sustainable lifestyles and technology. Really, quite frankly, the will to change our economic system that doesn't exemplify consumerism and waste. But that's all for another thread.

 

[John Done]

I believe you mean half a billion...

I with you, Mars is inhabitable. We only have one planet, one home, one chance. Humanity's issue is not about money however, it's about will. The will to change our current lifestyle. The will to aid others less fortunate. The will to move to more sustainable lifestyles and technology. Really, quite frankly, the will to change our economic system that doesn't exemplify consumerism and waste. But that's all for another thread.

I was always thinking that it is quite possible to build a shield along the Earth orbit (as Tony Stark once mentioned) to protect the Earth, but not only from the danger from open space but also to monitor the process take place on the Earth to have an opportunity to solve the issue when it just appears.. Yes, a bit of fiction comes..

 

[Dland]

im going yes, I loosely think it will be spacex

edit: fix spelling

Think there will be any on Earth? { ;

 

[passedpawn]

Like it or not, the Earth is where we make our stand. I like the scifi as much as the next guy, but we're gonna have to come to terms with the fact that this planet bore the human race, and it will also serve as its final resting place.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Like it or not, the Earth is where we make our stand. I like the scifi as much as the next guy, but we're gonna have to come to terms with the fact that this planet bore the human race, and it will also serve as its final resting place.

There is nothing which could be added to the perfection of his words. Wish this was played every month or so on all of our networks. Thanks for posting Pass

 

[passedpawn]

There is nothing which could be added to the perfection of his words. Wish this was played every month or so on all of our networks. Thanks for posting Pass

Find you one of these tshirts (I bought mine a couple of years ago)

 

[ehall]

I'd like to leave footprints on Uranus...

 

[passedpawn]

I'd like to leave footprints on Uranus...

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Hahaha, perfect! Surprised anyone responded. Like "Yeah, haven't heard some variation of that 20,000x in the last 53yrs!"

 

[ehall]

I be here all zee week...

 

[Nubiwan]

I'd like to leave footprints on Uranus...

Take some toilet paper to wipe out klingons....

 

[Nubiwan]

It is an irony that we seek/hope for proof of other sentient civilizations or other habitable planets. I often wonder the how and why of it all.

If we did get some hint of a signal from distant space, then how would we possibly ever communicate in real time, when the vastness of space is measured in billions of light years. We cant. It be one great big "so what now?" moment.

Why do we put so much mental resource into searching for exoplanets, SETI and the like. Even if we do break the constricting laws of physics, and acheive light speed or better, we are still likely to be thousands of years travel from potential new planets, to go pilfer.

is it a question of mortailty we cant face? Might be bestter for the universe we all just extinct ourselves. I doubt we have much choice either way.

Guess we can always hope our ancestors stick a worm hole around Saturn, and conquer time travel.

 

[Nubiwan]

Who said there aren't already?

CS Lewis - professor Ransom i trust.....

 

[day_trippr]

In a word: "Curiosity". It's one of our many human conditions, and without it we would still be beating wildlife with sticks.

But, yeah, the whole "travel to another sentient planet" thing ain't happening until FTL transit happens. Humans don't live long enough to make the trip to any potentially habited solar system otherwise - suspended animation or not. And very close behind is simple communication with the same target(s). Takes too long, need FTL comm links, and let's face it, anything even remotely close to FTL-anything is just theory.

Still...at one point years ago I had three rather beastly workstations between home and office that when idle were Seti drones. Would have been cool to be the one that got a hit

Cheers!

 

[Broothru]

Takes too long, need FTL comm links, and let's face it, anything even remotely close to FTL-anything is just ...........

POSSIBLE!

The reality is that 'space' itself is not constrained by the speed of light and is indeed expanding at a rate greater than 'c'.

At least that's a plausible dynamic based on Edwin Hubble's observations of an expanding universe. Now all we need is a way to seamlessly integrate our physical being with 'space', though even then we'd still never catch up with the 'space' that had expanded before we reintegrated with it.

.....UNLESS there is an additional dimension other than space-time as yet to be (theoretically) discovered. I'll leave that to the theoretical physicists to ponder. My head already hurts too much.

Brooo Brother

 

[InspectorJon]

The difference between the middle ages and now is that medical science should be able to find a way to stem the damage before 2/3 of the population dies.

.... Waiting to see

 

[kh54s10]

What if all our attempts to contact another sentient civilization brings conquerors to our world??

 

[grampamark]

One of my favorite TZ episodes.

 

[Broothru]

What if all our attempts to contact another sentient civilization brings conquerors to our world??

"To Serve Man"

It's a COOK BOOK!!!!"