If we are able to accomplish the extraordinary goal of sending a person to Mars,

[Uncle Joe]

Link to tweet

[PJMcK]

1. Nice thought, Senator

However, a manned mission to Mars would be a waste of time and money. We've already had excellent machines scout the planet. We already know a lot about that planet. We don't need people to go there.

A great manned mission, however, would be to go to Jupiter's moon, Europa. It's an icy world that seems to have liquid water under its frozen surface. The incredible gravity from the nearby gas giant causes the icy surface to crack and refreeze indicating that there's liquid beneath it. If there's water, there could very well be the building blocks for life if not life itself.

That would be an exciting and profound exploration.

[nitpicker]

2. I'm not sure if either mission is doable with humans

IMO, there are enough questions from the Scott Kelly mission and other long-haul ISS sojourners to think that first we need to verify that long term stays on the ISS ((or anything else in low earth orbit)) are survivable.

[Duppers]

3. Exactly.

TY.

[struggle4progress]

4. Why send a person to Mars? Invest in sensors and robotics instead