Wooo hoo, we're goin' to Mars!!

[breg]

Speaking from a strictly Sci Fi geek point of view,

THIS IS FREAKING ASWOME!!!!

I've always been facinated with the night sky as long as I can remember. Now we are going back there. I'm so excited. The only thing is that by the time we get to Mars, I'll be in my late 40's or early 50's. That is my only complaint.
Just imagine what we will learn. Or what a pick up line it would be to say "Hey baby, I was one of the Mars Explorers."

[Bluestrike_2]

it will NOT stop war any time soon.

but maybe it will in 50 years, or in a century. Heck, maybe not for 500 years, but it CAN happen.

[Vendetta]

Bush the first said made a speech anouncing the same thing. Didn't happen then. Look at where the space industry is based. Florida, California, Texas. This is poorly politcal. No way a Republican congress is going to spend money on space.

P.S. Same thing with the imigrant workers thing.


Too bad

[Mateo]

Ill tell you why we aren't going to build on the moon.
1.No huge profit return
2.Too much investment with money we don't have

Those two things will stop the lunar building. It costs ALOT of money just to get supplies to orbit, such as small satelites. Think of the cost of fuel, shuttles, etc JUST to get TO the moon. Too much investment with hardly no return. You say power? If you covered the moon with a ring of solar panels it would probably only produce enough energy to power say North America and maybe Europe. Again the cost of solar panels themselves are incredibly high now and are terribly inefficient(but they are getting better). Not to mention the technology to "beam" down energy. Not seeing it happen in my lifetime. And if it does, I want my hypergates to Mars and Jupiter, and hey why not build a huge thermal energy gathering station near the sun while we are at it and make it beam energy to us. Then develop warp engines...

This money should be spent else where to help our country with our debt problem. Once we have a surplus of money, say 50 trillion dollars, then we will start thinking of reaching out to the stars. This is just bad financial practice, sad really, like most Americans its like credit card debt times a million.

[Restola]

Originally posted by Chojin Man
Where the heck is all of the money going to come from? 2015 is not really that far away. It seems that we will still be paying for the Iraq bill in 2015.

NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe (search) said the additional request is not a great demand on future budgets.

"What we're looking at is an investment that the president is going to propose that is less than 1 percent of the federal budget. Indeed, the average taxpayer will contribute what amounts to a monthly cable bill amount towards this, and that's about the extent of what is involved, it's not just a budget buster," O'Keefe told Fox News.

Wow...1% of the budget...we should start shutting the schools down now...

I agree though this is a very political move. Once Bush leaves office the next politician (democrat or republican) will likely cut the NASA budget to fund yet another doomed social program.

[ScatterPlot]

Stuff like this has been in the works for a LOT longer than most people think. I know of a person at my church who worked on the medical aspect of a manned Mars mission, and he is retired. He was something way up, Brigadier something maybe, I don't know. This isn't jsut something new that has just come up.

[spantol]

Screw Mars, screw the moon. I want me a Space Elevator. This is the only proposal that I'm aware of that will put space visits within reach of the general population.

[ScatterPlot]

Read a lot about that on howstuffworks.com. Sounds great.

[TheDuelist]

You know I wonder what would of happened if Columbus stood on the European shoreline and as he looked out over the ocean he said "I wonder.......nah", and turned and walked away.

Its not always the hows or whys but because we can.

[ScatterPlot]

Awesome point

[MiniMag84]

Originally posted by Bluestrike_2
it will NOT stop war any time soon.

but maybe it will in 50 years, or a decade.

You've contradicted yourself so many times I just lost all respect.

[Koosh]

People need to realize that we aren't paying just to have a few people walk on the moon, or mars and bring rocks back.

A feat like this requires entirely new technology. Just look at everything developed from the apollo missions...

CAT Scanners, MRI technology, Cool suits, (worn by race car drivers, nuclear reactor technicians, shipyard workers, people with multiple sclerosis and kids with a congenital disorders), kidney dialysis machines, cordless power tools, athletic shoe design, insulation barrier design, cardiovascular conditioners, vacuum metallizing techniques, water purification, freese dried food (love that ice cream), food service systems, retroreflectors (detects hazardous gases), dry lubricant bonding, and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember right now. And that's just the apollo missions!

The above was stolen from ShooterJM in the Space Shuttle Columbia thread... Speaking of which, we are coming up on the year anniversary to that...

[MiniMag84]

I think we all DO realize this. It's going to cost a buttload of cash and we just can't afford it right now.

[Paint-Fool]

It doesn't matter if we can't afford it if the goverment wants to do it they will. They don't care how deep in debt we go. It's just more in taxes that we will have to pay. I for one am sick and tired of paying so much in taxes and not getting squat back. I don't make alot of money but I still paid over $10,000 in taxes last year and I will be lucky if I get back $1,000. Part of that is because my money goes to people who have kids so they can get alot back and sometimes get back more than they paid! WTF is the deal with that?? What because I'm single with no kids doesn't meen I don't have bills to pay or that I wouldn't enjoy getting more of MY money back?? They need to stop spending so much on things like the Mars stuff or helping all these other countries. I don't see anyone else helping us do you?? Sorry for the rant about taxes but I had to let it out. LOL

[Restola]

Originally posted by MiniMag84
I think we all DO realize this. It's going to cost a buttload of cash and we just can't afford it right now.

once again...

NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe (search) said the additional request is not a great demand on future budgets.

"What we're looking at is an investment that the president is going to propose that is less than 1 percent of the federal budget. Indeed, the average taxpayer will contribute what amounts to a monthly cable bill amount towards this, and that's about the extent of what is involved, it's not just a budget buster," O'Keefe told Fox News.

1% of the budget people. This isn't going to shut off your favorite redistribution of wealth scheme, so stop using that as an excuse to hate Bush and find a legitimate one.