Kurgan wrote:
Mars is very far away, and if you look at all that's gone wrong on other manned missions, then you don't need to be a genious to see that you'll probably get some kind of mechanical or electrical error with disasterous consequences if you were to send a spaceship to Mars in 2018. Almost every advanced digital technological invention today, had a primitive ancestor in 1969 as well; "rocket science" hasn't changed that much in the last 40 years.
Furthermore, we do not know the effects of long-term deprivation of gravity yet, let alone if someone can survive it for the one and a half years a two-way trip to Mars would require.
Lastly, NASA has an extremely tight budget. If they have to choose between something of great scientific value (eg. unmanned probes on Europa or the search for more exoplanets) or something that's merely cool, but of no great scientific value (building a hotel on the moon, a manned mission to mars, etc.), they'll chose the former. In the 1960's, they were under great pressure to land on the moon as quickly as possible because of a promise John F. Kennedy made to the American people, and because the USSR was also aiming for the moon.
The "deadline" for when man will walk on Mars has been pushed back several times; in 1969, they said the year 2000; in 2000, they said 2020; now they're saying 2050. Don't be dissapointed if it never happens in our lifetime.
A manned mission to Mars is like controlled nuclear fusion. Always 20-30 years in the future.
ruveyn
So is returning to the Moon. At least landing a man on the Moon was done once though.
16 May 2013, 5:57 pm
